India and the West Indies have an eloquent history of cricketing encounters against each other, and the "Utsav Zone" celebrates just that. Moments of glory, performances to cherish, matches to remember for a lifetime - we pick them out from the 70 Tests and 66 one-dayers these two teams have fought over. Packaged together, the "Utsav Zone" presents you genuine cause to celebrate the sport's rich and hoary past.

India continue to celebrate at Port of Spain

On two occasions in the past, Port of Spain has found itself at the centre of Indian celebratory fervour. After a drought of 26 years, the Queen's Park Oval found itself hosting yet another Indian party.

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When Sanjay Bangar caught Cameron Cuffy off Zaheer Khan, one's eyes sped immediately towards Sourav Ganguly. And the Indian captain did not disappoint. He is a blunt man, except when he is batting, and his show of emotion came straight from the heart. Dropping to his knees, he kissed the turf before whooping in delight and giving Javagal Srinath one of the biggest bear hugs the fast bowler is ever likely to receive.

The entire Indian team, in fact, went a bit mad, but a close follower of their fortunes over the last year would not have blamed them. Critics have torn down many of their achievements and strongly highlighted their failures, and it must come as sweet revenge to the players, disproving those who insisted that the side did not have the resources to win abroad.

Ganguly, for example, has been lambasted numerous times, and his head has been called for on more occasions than one can remember. Yet he played the match-winning knock in hitting an unbeaten 75 in the second innings at Port of Spain. He even took a risk before the Test, dropping veteran leggie Anil Kumble and leaving himself vulnerable to criticism for the move, but few will be complaining now that the gamble paid off.

With this win, Ganguly became India's "winningest" skipper abroad, no mean feat for a man only two years into the job. But that was not the only reason India celebrated after the second Test.

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Sachin Tendulkar, for long India's best, most selfless player, turned 29 a day after the end of the Test, the triumph being possibly the best gift he could have asked for. But Tendulkar also gave himself a little present, scoring his 29th Test century to draw level with the legendary Don Bradman. Only Sunil Gavaskar now ranks ahead of Tendulkar, and the original Little Master's record is bound to fall to the new Little Master before the latter ends his career.

Port of Spain, in all, was a happy Test for the Indians, and if the Indians go ahead to win the series, they can only spark off more celebrations in this cricket-mad country.

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