16 June,2011 08:21 AM IST | | Harit N Joshi
West Indies' poor run gives Dhoni's men a golden chance of beating the hosts convincingly in next week's test series
India's tour to the West Indies has all the ingredients to be a historic one.
First step in the making was a splendid ODI series win by a young Indian team led by stand-in skipper Suresh Raina. The youngsters' responsible performance, barring the fourth ODI on Monday, helped India win a consecutive series in the Caribbean for the first time, and live up to tag of World Champions.
Team India celebrates their Test series win after clinching the fourth and
final match in Sabina Park, Jamaica in 2006. Pic/AFP
If the series-clinching performance by fringe players is any indication, India have a good chance to create their maiden double by winning the three-match Test series, starting June 20 convincingly.
The visitors' chances of winning consecutive Test series in the West Indies has doubled with the return of senior pros like Mahendra Singh Dhoni, VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid. Absence of other senior members like Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh might have added zing to the team, but the young guns mature show in the one-dayers will give a lot of comfort to skipper Dhoni when he returns from a much-deserved break.
Whitewash
India's two Test series wins in the Caribbean have been achieved by a 1-0 margin. This time there is a golden opportunity to win more emphatically.
They can take cue from Test minnows Bangladesh, who whitewashed hosts West Indies 2-0 in July 2009.
Australia and South Africa hammered West Indies 2-0 in in 2007-08 and 2009-10 respectively.
Dhoni can also take heart from the fact that West Indies has won only one Test series (1-0 against England in 2008-09) ever since Dravid's India won a Test series for the first time in 35 years in their last outing in the Caribbean in the 2005-06 season.
Overall, West Indies have enjoyed good success at home. They have won 76, lost 49 and drawn 88 Tests, but most of those wins have come during their invincible days. Since the 1990s West Indian cricket has declined and stand seventh on the current list of Test rankings.u00a0 However, former India chief selector, Kiran More was apprehensive about Dhoni's World No 1 team making a clean sweep. "We are obviously favourites to win the Test series, but I am not sure if we can win it 3-0. "It depends on what kind of wickets West Indies dish out.
Turning tracks might give us a good chance though," More told MiD DAY.
"We will surely miss Viru, Sachin and Gauti. It is very important to get a good start in Tests. Zaheer Khan too would have made a lot of difference in the bowling department," added More, who was chief selector when India won a Test series in the Caribbean last time round.
