West Indies 394 (Hooper 115, Chanderpaul 101*, Nehra 4-112) and 5 for 0 beat India 102 and 296 (Ganguly 60*, Jaffer 51, Dillon 4-82) by 10 wickets
scorecard

Barbados played true to the script for both teams again, as India slumped to their seventh defeat in eight Tests here. Resuming at 169 for 4, they were bowled out for 296, leaving West Indies the formality of scoring five runs to win. Stuart Williams completed the job, punching Harbhajan Singh through cover to seal the win and level the five-Test series at 1-1.

India's last recognised pair of VVS Laxman and Sourav Ganguly failed to put together the substantial partnership that could have asked a few questions of the West Indian batsmen. Laxman departed early, and though Ganguly and Zaheer Khan smashed 74 for the eighth wicket, it only delayed the inevitable.

For the second time in the match, Sourav Ganguly top-scored in the Indian innings, remaining undefeated on a well-compiled 60; he now has 183 runs in his last three innings and has been dismissed only once.

Mervyn Dillon was West Indies' hero, taking his second four-for in the Test to end with overall figures of 8 for 123 – good enough to win him the Man of the Match award.

West Indies started the day strongly, requiring only 22 balls to separate the overnight pair of Laxman and Ganguly. Bowling from round the wicket, Pedro Collins got one to pitch on middle and seam away. Laxman's attempted on-drive lodged into the hands of Hooper and India were 183 for 5. It was a well-deserved wicket for Collins, who had troubled Laxman with similar deliveries last evening. Laxman made 43.

Ajay Ratra scored three times the runs that wicketkeepers from both sides had managed in eight innings in this series. But Mervyn Dillon with the new ball ended his defiance. An indipper struck him in front of off, and umpire Asoka de Silva declared him lbw. Ratra made 13, with two fours (208 for 6).

Cameron Cuffy then joined the wicket-taking act. A short ball outside off, and Harbhajan Singh did the rest for the bowler, attempting an atrocious back-foot drive without any movement of the feet. The ball took the inside edge and crashed into his stumps (211 for 7). Harbhajan kicked the turf in disgust as he walked back for 3; he should have been kicking himself instead. It wasn't the first time he had thrown it away with a recognized batsman at the other end.

Sensing the end, Ganguly went for his shots, top-edging an attempted pull over the slips and then cutting over point for fours in one over from Dillon. Zaheer started with a couple of slashes over slips, but soon grew in confidence, getting behind the short balls and creaming the fuller ones for runs.

Adam Sanford felt the heat when he came on to replace Cuffy. After Ganguly had slammed the first ball – a short delivery wide of off stump – to the point fence, Zaheer took over. He clunked a full-length ball over midwicket for six, and then in Sanford's next over, pulled him for a six and a four. The last shot brought up the 50-run partnership, of which Zaheer had contributed 33.

With runs coming far too quickly and the deficit being whittled down, Carl Hooper resorted to a defensive field. Not that it helped though: Zaheer punched Dillon down the ground and flicked him to the midwicket fence.

Just when India seemed to have taken the morning session on points, an innocuous long-hop from Sarwan did the trick. Zaheer tried to put it away, but only managed to nick it to Ridley Jacobs (285 for 8). Zaheer made an entertaining 45-ball 46 with four fours and two sixes, and added 74 for the eighth wicket with Ganguly in just 13.4 overs.

Javagal Srinath lasted just one ball, scooping a full delivery outside off from Ramnaresh Sarwan to Carl Hooper at gully (285 for 9). Ganguly clipped a couple off Cuffy to ensure that West Indies would need to bat again. Dillon ended the Indian innings when Nehra holed out to Collins at deep mid-on for 3.

It was the third consecutive time that India had lost a Test match overseas after winning the previous one, repeating the trend which also happened in Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka. With only four days to go before the Antigua Test, India have some quick regrouping to do.

Teams
India 1 SS Das, 2 Wasim Jaffer, 3 Rahul Dravid, 4 Sachin Tendulkar, 5 Sourav Ganguly (capt), 6 VVS Laxman, 7 Ajay Ratra (wk), 8 Harbhajan Singh, 9 Javagal Srinath, 10 Zaheer Khan, 11 Ashish Nehra.

West Indies 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Stuart Williams, 3 Brian Lara, 4 Ramnaresh Sarwan, 5 Carl Hooper (capt), 6 Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 7 Ridley Jacobs (wk), 8 Mervyn Dillon, 9 Cameron Cuffy, 10 Pedro Collins, 11 Adam Sanford.

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