A triumph of team spirit
Ajay Singh - 24 April 2002

The Indian team presented Sachin Tendulkar with possibly the best birthday gift he has ever received - an overseas Test win. The psychological impact of not being able to win a Test chasing just 120 in the West Indies in 1996-97 was tremendous, and it has haunted the Indians ever since. This win will do much to erase any hangover of that defeat.

In the end, it was quite a narrow victory in terms of runs, but the effect could lead to a transformed and more confident Indian side that can bring home greater glory. The match itself will be remembered not just for Tendulkar's first-innings hundred, but also for contributions in both innings from Man of the Match VVS Laxman, a return to form of skipper Sourav Ganguly and the consistency of Rahul Dravid, who just seemed to carry on from where he left off in the first Test. On a pitch not offering too much for the bowlers, Srinath played the role of a spearhead and was effectively backed up by Ashish Nehra and Zaheer Khan.

As the match seesawed, the Indians showed that they were a cohesive unit, bound together by the strong desire for an overseas win. It was nice to see rivals Nehra and Zaheer encouraging each other and newcomer Ajay Ratra showing the energy and vitality that was missing with Deep Dasgupta. He raced away behind the ball to run out Junior Murray and showed good temperament when the third umpire disallowed his spectacular diving catch of Shivnarine Chanderpaul.

The West Indians may feel that they were one batsman short to win this Test match. A bowling all-rounder can provide the right balance to their side. If they take this defeat in their stride, they can still bounce back in this series and, on a helpful wicket, can create problems for the Indian batting line-up.

The Indians, in spite of ending up victorious, have some key issues to resolve. The batting of the Indian tail, which collapsed twice to leave Laxman and Ganguly without partners in the two innings; the bowling of Harbhajan Singh, who could not trouble the West Indian batsmen too much; the large number of wides and no-balls that could have made all the difference if the scorelines were a little closer; the opening slot, where they need to bring in Wasim Jaffer in place of an off-colour Sanjay Bangar.

While the test will probably be remembered for Sachin’s 29th Test hundred, it was really a victory of team spirit, of India's collective will to achieve an overseas Test win that they should now go on to covert into a series win.

The views expressed above are solely those of the guest contributor and are carried as written, with only minor editing for grammar, to preserve the original voice. These contributed columns are solely personal opinion pieces and reflect only the feelings of the guest contributor. Their being published on CricInfo.com does not amount to an endorsement by CricInfo's editorial staff of the opinions expressed.
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