Ganguly also had to captain the Indian side

Laxman followed on from his 69 in Georgetown with another 69, unbeaten, at the Queen's Park Oval and then an absolutely crucial 74 in the second innings.

And the man who joined him in a stand of 149 in the second innings was the skipper himself, Sourav Ganguly.

It was that stand - Ganguly ended with a patient, thoroughly professional 75 off 227 balls - that ultimately sucked the breath out of the West Indies.

Although the home side will say their batting let them down on the final day, both sides knew that they both had desperately weak tails and the batting had to be done by the top six.

This is a point worth driving home - numbers seven to 11 contributed 0, 0, 5, 18 and 0 in India's first innings, and 0, 9, 6, 12 and 1 not out in West Indies' first innings.

In the second innings the story was even worse - 2, 0, 2, 4 and 0 for India, and 1, 0, 3, 1 and 4 for West Indies.

When Ganguly and Laxman came together late on Monday the score was 56 for four in India's second innings, and the lead was a small one, at 150.

The fifth-wicket pair clicked well together

If the West Indies could grab one more wicket, one end would be open and they would probably be chasing a score less than 200 to win.

But Laxman, the elegant right-hander who will forever be remembered for his remarkable 281 against Australia in Calcutta last year, showed few signs of nerves at the crease.

By contrast, Ganguly looked decidedly edgy early on.

And it looked for all the word that the cares of leading his country at such a crucial moment in such a crucial Test series would be too much to bear.

But once he had settled down, he looked like he simply would not be shifted.

And so it proved. He resisted the short balls that the West Indies' pace quartet threw at him - desperate to avoid top-edging a hook, which had proved his downfall in Guyana.

Laxman with Carl Hooper after the Test

He must have been a little perturbed that none of the lower order batsmen possessed the acumen to stick around while he built the score.

In truth, India could struggle in England if they do not strengthen their lower order.

But the target of 313 always looked a mite distant for the home team.

Laxman himself has acknowledged he must hit more centuries. He has only two to his name so far in a career that has already seen him represent his country on 32 occasions.

Ganguly, for his part, remarkably reached the two centuries mark after just two Tests.

He has had his low points, suffering a terrible run of form for the whole of 2001 as the pressures of captaincy began to weigh heavily.

But a much-needed century against Zimbabwe in Delhi earlier this year has got him going again. He was always too doughty a campaigner to give in easily.