LEFT: West Indies captain Brian Lara - the team's match winner. RIGHT: India's captain Rahul Dravid - lynchpin of the India batting order
Tym Glaser, Associate Editor - Sport
IT'S NOT often that the West Indies face a younger foe - Zimbabwe notwithstanding - but that is exactly what they confront against the visiting Indians.
Coach Greg Chappell's holisitic approach to his task sees a young sub-continental side in the Caribbean with a firm eye on greater prizes in the future.
However, the hosts would be remiss to take this squad lightly. India have a poor road record and a terrible one over here, but this squad features a handful of match winners in skipper Rahul Dravid, opener Virender Sehwag, 'keeper/batsman Mahendra Dhoni, all-rounder Irfan Pathan and wily spinner Harbhajan Singh and that's not counting the world's greatest Test centurymaker Sachin Tendulkar, who's recovering from injury, and spinner Anil Kumble, who is taking a break before the Tests.
The Windies? Well, they have one - Brian Charles Lara.
Still, the hosts have the experience and paper edge for the Tests.
A batting line-up which includes Lara, Chris Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan, a hopefully revitalised Shiv Chanderpaul, Runako Morton and Dwayne Bravo looks slightly more solid than one which includes Sehwag, Dravid, possibly Tendulkar and the explosive Dhoni and then a bag of young but pretty much untested or unproven talent.
India, through Pathan, Harbhajan Singh and Kumble look to have the edge in the bowling department but the Windies' pitches are not renowned for their turn, which should negate the latter two.
If Fidel Edwards gets reasonable support from Jamaicans Daren Powell and Jerome Taylor and possibly Corey Collymore and under-utilised spinner Dave Mohammed, the West Indies should be in the driver's seat.
At home, against a team which hasn't won in the Caribbean since 1971, the Windies are nominal favourites.
Toss in the fact that the West Indies have won 12 of the 17 series between the teams and the odds grow in favour of the hosts.
However, the Windies are an incredibly hard team to trust. Weather permitting, the four-match Test series could end 2-2.
Tour Schedule| Date | Match | Venue |
| May 16: | Practice match | Jamaica |
| May 18: | First ODI | Jamaica |
| May 20: | Second ODI | Jamaica |
| May 23: | Third ODI | St Kitts |
| May 26: | Fourth ODI | Trinidad |
| May 28: | Fifth ODI | Trinidad |
| May 30-31: | Practice match | Antigua |
| June 2-6: | First Test | Antigua |
| June 10-14: | Second Test | St. Lucia |
| June 22-26: | Third Test | St. Kitts |
| June 30-July 4: | Fourth Test | Jamaica |
