Top 5 India vs West Indies encounters

 1) The world record chase, 7-12 April, 1976

It was 5 years since India’s historic victory at Port of Spain. In the interim, India had won a test series in England, before beating the same opponent at home. Strangely, their next series had also been against England, where they were demolished by the home team.

After that, India had lost a home series to West Indies, before sharing the spoils in New Zealand. They were now captained by the maverick, Bishen Bedi. West Indies, on the other hand, were captained by Clive Lloyd.

They had toured Australia just previously. In a 6 match series, dubbed the ‘world championship’, the Windies had been routed 5-1, by the scorching pace of Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson. This series had reportedly prompted Lloyd to declare ‘Never again’.

Coming to the match, India were back at the Queens Park Oval, the scene of their triumph 5 years previously. India played 4 members of that XI, while the Windies fielded only 2. The series was poised 1-0 in favour of the hosts, with another match left after this.

Batting first, the hosts put up 359 on the back of 177 from Viv Richards. In a sign of things to come, all 10 wickets fell to spin; 4 for Bedi, 6 for Bhagwat Chandrasekhar. For India, 8 batsmen reached double figures, but the team could only manage 228.

West Indies declared on the 4^th afternoon, with a lead of over 400 runs. Buoyed with the success of India’s spinners, Lloyd wanted to give his 3 spinners sufficient time to bowl out the opposition. This was about to backfire spectacularly.

Gavaskar and Viswanath struck centuries as India reached the target of 403 with 7 overs to spare on the final day. This created a world record at the time for the highest successful chase.

This match reinforced Lloyd’s belief that a 4 pronged pace attack was the way forward. Later on, West Indies took the series after a barbaric victory at Kingston.