Chris Gayle's introduction was vital

But he added: "We have to make sure we do whatever it takes to develop these guys properly."

After Trinidad things would have started looking decidedly bleak. And Hooper's captaincy seemed to be every bit as uninspiring as Jimmy Adams's had before him.

But then came Barbados. At the Kensington Oval, on an utterly placid pitch, only the Indians will know how they folded to 102 all out.

Perhaps they were unnerved by being invited to bat first after Hooper won the toss.

And the series was effectively turned on its head when Sachin Tendulkar fell for a second-ball duck, caught behind off the left-arm seamer Pedro Collins \z India finished on 102 all out.

The balance of power swung dramatically after that match. As it transpired, the West Indies had the better of the Antigua draw and dominated in all departments in Jamaica.

Jacobs replaced Murray midway through the series

In 1976, India also went into the final Test of a series in the West Indies locked at 1-1 in the series.

On that occasion, the venue was also Sabina Park, and again India succumbed.

In 1976, of course, Michael Holding was at his peak and an astonishing five Indian batsmen reported as absent hurt in the second innings.

But Sourav Ganguly, a man who has already had his fair share of criticism from an Indian public all too ready to castigate him when things go wrong, cannot use that excuse this time.

Pace, however, as it was in 1976, was the key to the West Indies' series victory this time.

The crowning moment for a West Indies public who have suffered plenty of hardship in recent years was the sight of Adam Sanford beating the great Sachin for pace and clean-bowling the great man in the second innings when he was well set in the 80s.