A group of Caribbean nations that plays under one banner, the West Indies has produced some of the greatest cricketers to have ever played the game.
There were the three W’s – Frank Worrell, Clyde Walcott and Everton Weekes, spin twins Alf Valentine and Sonny Ramadhin, left-arm tweaker Lance Gibbs as well as the legendary Sir Garfield Sobers.
But it was in the late 1970s and early 80s that a group of greats came together under the leadership of Clive Lloyd. That group would rule world cricket for more than a decade.
India’s most memorable encounter with this side was the 1983 ICC Cricket World Cup final. Lloyd’s outfit looked set to lift their third trophy in a row at Lord’s only to be denied by a Kapil Dev-inspired Indian outfit.
However, the rivalry between the two sides goes back a long way from that balmy summer day at Lord’s. The first ever India-West Indies Test series was played in 1948 when the Caribbean team toured the sub-continent. Walcott led the Windies side and won the series 1-0 against a modest looking Indian team-led by Lala Amarnath.
Looking at the head to head record of the two teams, West Indies hold a clear edge with a much higher winning percentage. In fact, India’s first series win over West Indies came exactly 22 years after it played the first Test when an Ajit Wadekar-led India romped home with seven wickets at Queen’s Park Oval in Port of Spain. India finally managed to hold on to the lead and won the series 1-0.
That was also the series when a certain Sunil Gavaskar arrived on the big stage by scoring an incredible 774 runs in four Tests.
West Indies returned the favour on their tour of India in 1974-75 series and beat the home team 3-2. Led by Clive Lloyd, West Indies won the first two Tests and lost the next two only to come out victorious in the fifth and final Test.
Gavaskar, after a poor series in 1974-75, during which he was dropped by captain MK Pataudi, starred yet again when India toured the West Indies in 1975-76. The Little Master, along with the stylish Gundappa Viswanath and the combative Mohinder Amarnath, helped India chase a then-record 403 runs in the fourth innings of the third Test at Port of Spain. However, the West Indies won the series 2-1.
That was just one of the many memorable series the two sides have played out over the years. In 1983-84, immediately after their World Cup triumph, India were thumped 3-0 by the men from the Caribbean who were then at the height of their powers.
There were still some sparkling performances for the Indians though – including Kapil Dev’s career best 9 for 83 at Ahmdabad in the third Test as well as Sunil Gavaskar’s 236 not out in the final test at Chennai that ended in a draw.
Both Kapil and Gavaskar’s figures stood as Indian records for nearly two decades. Anil Kumble beat Kapil’s figures when he took 10 for 74 against Pakistan in 1999 while VVS Laxman beat Gavaskar’s record by scoring 281 against Australia at the Eden Gardens in 2001.
However the superb performances by the legendary Indian duo were mere side-shows in the overall theme of West Indian domination throughout the 80s and well into the 90s.
Recently though, both sides have been on opposite trajectories – with West Indian cricket in free-fall and India flying high as the world top ranked Test team as well as the world champions in One-day cricket.
In 2006, the Indians won their first Test series in the Caribbean since 1971. They will land on those shores as favourites – but with some key players like Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Sachin Tendulkar absent, the home sides might well sniff a chance to upset the Indian juggernaut.
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