History kind to Windies at Eden Gardens
WEST Indies have fared well on the fat of the Eden Gardens land in Kolkata, winning three and drawing four of their eight Test matches against India there.
Their only loss was the December-January 1974-1975 Test, when Clive Lloyd’s men fell short by 85 runs.
The Indians are intent on bettering that record over the next five days, but they will have to contend with Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Marlon Samuels, who return to the iconic cricket ground with happy memories.
Both Chanderpaul and Samuels, along with Wavell Hinds, hit centuries in the October 30-November 3, 2002 Test which ended in a draw.
The Sourav Ganguly-led India, having won the toss, put together 358 all out, with Mervyn Dillon taking three for 82, while Cameron Cuffy, Jermaine Lawson and Daren Powell each grabbed two wickets.
Chanderpaul (140), Samuels — who fashioned his maiden Test century (104) — and Hinds (100) galvanised Carl Hooper-skippered West Indies to 497 all out early on day four, for the inevitable draw.
But no West Indian has been more at home at Eden Gardens, the second-largest cricket stadium in the world which holds 90,000 people, than Guyanese Rohan Kanhai.
Playing in his 13th Test with a previous highest score of 96, Kanhai batted at number three in the December 31 to January 4, 1959 match.
West Indies captain Gerry Alexander, a Jamaican, won the toss and opted to bat against Ghulam Ahmed-led India.
John Holt and Conrad Hunte opened the batting for the Caribbean men.
Holt (five) fell with the score on 12, paving the way for budding legend, 24-year-old Kanhai who was all geared up to put on a show.
West Indies lost Hunte (23) at 72-2, making way for Jamaican O’Neil ‘Collie’ Smith (34) who tarried to 180 for three when another Guyanese, Basil Butcher, took his place.
The Guyanese pair put on 217 for the fourth wicket and when Butcher was lbw to Ahmed for 103, West Indies were 397 for four.
With Garry Sobers, Kanhai carried the West Indies to 454 for five. Batting for 400 minutes and cracking 42 fours, Kanhai, who became famous for his unorthodox shots, walked back to the pavilion with a sparkling 256 runs, his highest Test score ever.
West Indies eventually declared at 614 for five, with Sobers and Joe Solomon unbeaten on 106 and 69 respectively.
India was bowled out for 124 in their second innings, thanks to Roy Gilchrist and Wes Hall sharing six wickets and Sonny Ramadhin clinching another two.
The match ended in four days as West Indies won by a massive innings and 336 runs, the third highest winning margin in Test.
Everton Weekes (162), Clive Lloyd (161 not out), and Gordon Greenidge (141) are also among the 15 West Indians to bang centuries at Eden Gardens, that has so far hosted 36 Test matches with 19 (52.78 per cent) of them drawn.
Other West Indians scoring centuries at Eden Gardens include Basil Williams (111), Clyde Walcott (108), Sobers (106 not out), Basil Butcher (103), Gus Logie (101), Roy Fredericks (100) and Carl Hooper (100 not out).