Sourav Ganguly, the Indian captain, said after his team had beaten West Indies with a day-and-a-half to spare that he didn't expect the victory to be so easy. "To be honest, I didn't think the Test would be over today, even though we played superbly." While paying fulsome praise to a superb team performance, Ganguly singled out Zaheer Khan's effort for special praise. "Zaheer's four wickets was the key because his spell set up the win. He bowled superbly on a pitch which was not helpful to fast bowlers."

Zaheer, who is India's most improved bowler of the year, ran through the West Indian middle order with the old ball in the post-lunch session yesterday, dismissing Carl Hooper, Ryan Hinds and Ridley Jacobs in four overs to help his team gain a big lead.

Ganguly had words of praise for the spinners too, who between them captured 15 wickets in the match, including all ten in the second innings. "They [Harbhajan and Kumble] are class performers," said Ganguly. "The pitch helped spin on the fourth day and they exploited the conditions superbly."

"I'm happy with the way things are moving at present," said Ganguly after the 12th Test win of his career since taking over as captain in 2000. "Virender Sehwag and Sanjay Bangar scoring runs at the top is a great news, and I hope they continue to do the good work. We have been doing well in Tests and one-dayers for the past 10 months.

Carl Hooper, the West Indian captain, refused to blame the pitch for the poor performance of his team. "The pitch was not that bad, but we batted poorly," he conceded. "It was flat and helped spinners later on, but it was still good to bat on. We have to lift our game in the remaining two Tests.

"We have to put this defeat behind us. We have come back from behind against India in a Test series before, and let's see how things go from here," Hooper said, referring to his 2-1 victory over the Indians after trailing 1-0 in the five-match home series back in May.

The second Test starts in Chennai on October 17.

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd