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| April 25, 2002 | Thursday | Safar 11, 1423 |
Former players laud rare triumph
NEW DELHI, April 24: Former players were effusive in their praise of India after a rare overseas Test victory over West Indies in Trinidad Tuesday.
“It’s a great feeling. They really fought well,” former India skipper Ajit Wadekar said.
Millions of fans in cricket-crazy India stayed up into the early hours of Wednesday to watch India complete only their third Test win in the Caribbean.
All television channels led with news of India’s first major overseas Test victory in over 16 years at Port-of-Spain ground, which was also the venue of their previous two wins in West Indies in 1971 and 1976.
Wadekar, who captained the side which scored a memorable 1-0 series victory in 1971, attributed India’s victory to aggression.
“They showed great aggression. I could see that in the eyes of (skipper) Saurav Ganguly,” he said.
West Indies batsmen kept alive their hopes of achieving a fourth-innings target of 313 runs until the final session of play before India’s pace attack won the battle.
The victory also pleased former skipper Bishan Singh Bedi, who led the side in 1976 when they achieved their memorable world-record fourth-innings chase of 406.
“It’s absolutely fantastic. It was a real Test for Indian cricket and they came out triumphant,” he said.
Former India opener Anshuman Gaekwad, whose dogged batting played a key role in that game, said the win was “brilliant”.
The win also made Ganguly the second most successful Indian Test captain with 10 wins after Mohammad Azharuddin (14).
Bedi said West Indies could be expected to come back strongly as the next three Tests in Barbados, Antigua and Jamaica would be played on livelier pitches.—Reuters
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