Harbhajan Fashions Biggest Win Over WI

Harbhajan Singh fashioned India's first-ever innings victory over West Indies with a mesmerisingseven-wicket haul that skittled out the tourists for 188 in their second innings on the fourth day of the first Test at the Wankhede Stadium today.

India, who had bowled out West Indies for 157 in the first innings after scoring 457, thus registered an inningsand 112 run victory, their biggest against the Caribbeans, to go 1-0 up in the three-match Test series.

Harbhajan, who had taken just one wicket in the first innings, had figures of seven for 48 from 28.3 overs in
the second innings while his spin partner Anil Kumble bagged the remaining three wickets to finish with seven wickets fromthe match.

West Indies, who were placed comfortably at 105 for one this morning, saw a sudden collapse after the dismissal ofChris Gayle in the sixth over of the day. Gayle, who was caught by Saurav Ganguly off Harbhajan Singh, top-scored with42 after batting for 141 minutes and hitting five boundaries.

West Indies simply crumbled after that, the batsmen finding it increasingly difficult to negotiate the uneven
bounce of the pitch. Shivnarine Chanderpaul once again proved to be a tough nut to crack for the Indians and remainedunbeaten on 36 but with no support from the other end, his contribution was hardly sufficient for the West Indies.

The visitors resumed at overnight 91 for one and were looking to make up for their poor performance in the firstinnings when disaster struck.

Just two runs after the fall of Gayle, the other overnight batsman Ramnaresh Sarwan too returned to the
pavilion, becoming the first victim of Kumble. Sarwan made 17.

Then it was the turn of Carl Hooper, who failed to impress for the second time in his 100th Test. After scoring23 in the first innings, Hooper managed just one in his second essay before offering a return catch to Harbhajan Singh. WestIndies lost their skipper at 110.

Kumble then gave a double blow to the West Indies, sending back Ryan Hinds (2) and Ridley Jacobs (0) off successive deliveries to leave the visitors tottering at 117 for six.

Mahendra Nagamootoo came up with a surprise resistance in the seventh wicket partnership with Chanderpaul, who in themeanwhile, was negotiating the two spinners with relative ease.

But Nagamootoo was also lucky. He was dropped off Harbhajan's bowling when both Kumble and Sanjay Bangarwent for a skier and collided before spilling the catch.

Harbhajan, however, did get the batsman sometime later when Nagamootoo snicked a delivery to the second slipwhere Ganguly took a comfortable catch.

Mervyn Dillon lasted four balls before becoming Harbhajan's fifth victim on the stroke of lunch.

The jubilant Mumbai crowd was by now playing the victory  song in full chorus though Chanderpaul did his best to delaythe Indian celebrations by shielding Pedro Collins.

But that brief resistance was broken after 12 overs when Collins attempted a wild heave off the very first ball
Harbhajan went around the stumps and gave a simple catch to Dravid at slip.

The off-spinner then lured Cameron Cuffy to a drive and  completed a reflex return catch to bring curtains on Windies innings.

The Wankhede stadium is now gaining a reputation for  shorter Test matches. The previous two Tests too did not lastfive days - South Africa beat India inside three days in 2000 while Australia won similarly in 2001.

This was India's only ninth victory against the West Indies who have won 30 Tests and drawn 37 of the total 75Tests between the two countries so far.

The second Test starts in Chennai on October 17.

PTI