Quicks seal India’s incredible series win

India 353 (Ashwin 118, Saha 104, Cummins 3-54) and 217 for 7 decl. (Rahane 78*, Cummins 6-48) beat West Indies 225 (Brathwaite 64, Bhuvneshwar 5-33) and 108 (Bravo 59, Shami 3-15) by 237 runs Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

On Thursday, the third day of the St Lucia Test, India saw rain wash a whole day’s play out, with runs having been scored at about 2.5 an over on the first two days, with the bowlers’ last memory of having taken a wicket 79.2 overs ago. By the end of the play on Saturday, the fifth day, India had taken 17 wickets in 63.5 overs to complete an incredible Test and series win, a win borne as much out of belief and intent as out of West Indies’ lack of resistance after what hopefully wasn’t a false down in Jamaica.

India began day four believing they could still win; West Indies did nothing to make India doubt it. After Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s swing masterclass left India 285 in lead at the end of the fourth day, India quickly ran away to 60 runs in nine overs to leave West Indies with no chance of winning and 87 overs to survive. That was a big difference between Jamaica and St Lucia: there one counterattack put them within sight of parity and gave them direction, here they didn’t know where to go. Feet stopped moving, brains got muddled, plans went absent, and India stayed relentless. The victory, the first time India won two Tests in a series outside Asia since 2005 and the first time ever in the West Indies, arrived before tea.

The gulf in the class and awareness between the teams was glaring on the fifth day. It began with awareness and intent. India knew the outfield was slow, they knew they were short on time, so they came out running runs as if in street cricket. Tip and run, runs to slip, second runs with the ball in the fielder’s hand, thirds because of panicked throws and poor backing up, India almost literally stole these runs from under …

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