St. John's: The business end of India's tour of the West Indies gets underway here at the Antigua Recreation Ground on Friday. Eight previous trips across the Atlantic have yielded a solitary series win — in 1970-71 — and a measly three Test victories.

The script this tour had Rahul Dravid's men demolishing their opponents in the one-day series, thereby building a momentum wave that would help sweep the islanders, come the Tests. Sadly for India, the script was switched without notice.

Chagrined in the format it was expected to do well, the touring side has the difficult task of turning it around in the version it has struggled in recent times. Series losses in Pakistan and Test defeats against second-string English side at home don't trigger bouts of gloating.

All is not lost, however. The very difference in the two forms that was expected to hinder India might, paradoxically, help even the balance. "Some of the areas we didn't actually execute well are different in Tests," said Dravid. "There's no such thing as the last 15 overs, where we were caught short in the one-dayers. The fielding though is something that travels across forms."

Different ball game

Brian Lara, who has made both his world record scores (375 and 400 not out) on this ground, said, "I'm not going to read anything into it (the 4-1 ODI series win). Test cricket is a totally different ball game. It's the ultimate. We were better than India in 10 sessions of cricket. We have to now do it over 20 days."

The first Test is the opening note: anything discordant from the Indians, and the fat lady may begin her piece. Team composition is crucial to success. Dravid, as is his wont, was inclined "not to give anything away." The issues briefly are: Will India play five bowlers or four? And will it play two spinners in either case?

Prudence dictates four bowlers (and hence the extra batsman), considering that this is the first Test, and factoring in the batting line-up's lack of form in recent Tests. Mohammad Kaif will likely join his captain, Laxman, and Yuvraj in the middle order if India heads that way. "We know it's important to get 20 wickets, we'll have to see what gives us our best chance of doing it," said Dravid. "The fifth bowler does put pressure on the batting, it's dependent on the wicketkeeper and others getting runs."

The break between the second and third Test ensures the bowlers will not bear the arduous workloads they would have had to in the event of four back-to-back matches. This counters one of the rationales of the five-bowler theory — the rationale of five distributing the burden and lessening fatigue on long tours. But, this team had five bowlers in Mumbai against England despite being 1-0 up — a case, if ever, for making certain you don't lose.

On playing two spinners, Dravid said, "It always comes into the equation because we've got two world-class spinners. Unfortunately the tracks here don't turn as much as the match goes on, they get slower and lower. It becomes tough for spinners to get wickets — the edges don't carry to bat-pad."

And when they do carry, it's paramount they are held — the close catching was abysmal in the series against England. An encore will cook India's goose. Another point of concern is Irfan Pathan's bowling miseries. The left-armer from Baroda has evolved into an important lower-order batsman; he, however, becomes a liability if he fails in his primary task.

West Indies has a few injury concerns. It's hopeful Ramnaresh Sarwan will recover from a bruised wrist.

If Shivnarine Chanderpaul's torn hamstring doesn't heal in time, Runako Morton might get a look in. The bowling is expected to be manned by Edwards, Bradshaw, Taylor (or Collymore should his twisted ankle get better), Bravo and left-arm chinaman bowler Dave Mohammed.

Curator Keith Frederick said, "The goal is to make the track as hard as possible. That is live grass that we have nurtured; we don't sprinkle any grass cuttings and roll them in. It's half an inch high, and I might trim it on Friday."

The teams (from): India: Rahul Dravid (capt.), Virender Sehwag, Wasim Jaffer, Yuvraj Singh, V.V.S. Laxman, Mohammad Kaif, M.S. Dhoni (wk), Irfan Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Anil Kumble, S. Sreesanth, Munaf Patel, Suresh Raina, Ramesh Powar, Dinesh Kaarthick, V.R.V. Singh.

West Indies: Brian Lara (capt.), Chris Gayle, Daren Ganga, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Marlon Samuels, Runako Morton, Dwayne Bravo, Denesh Ramdin (wk), Ian Bradshaw, Jerome Taylor, Corey Collymore, Fidel Edwards, Dave Mohammed.

Umpires: Simon Taufel (Australia) and Asad Rauf (Pakistan); Third umpire: Billy Doctrove; Match referee: Jeff Crowe.

Hours of play (IST): 7.30 p.m. to 9.30 p.m., 10.10 p.m. to 12.10 a.m., and 12.30 a.m. till close.

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