Are they on course for a series victory?

A thrilling match at Trinidad's Queens Park Oval saw India take their first win in the Caribbean since 1976.

The Windies looked to be mounting a comeback on day four, but Javagal Srinath and Ashish Nehra shared five wickets for India as the home side struggled in their second innings.

The victory gives Sourav Ganguly's side a 1-0 lead in the five-Test series as they look to halt their abysmal record away from home.

Can the Windies level things up in Barbados?

Of course India will clinch the series. Since the West Indies are well short of natural talent (in comparison with their predecessors) they are bound to shrink under pressure.
Bill Monkau, Netherlands

If anything, the second Test proved that both sides are very evenly matched. Even the composition of the teams are similar: strong middle-orders, very long tails, specialist wicket-keepers who cannot bat to save their lives, and disciplined but not spectacular bowling attacks.
P.S.Rajagopalan, India

Congrats India and Ganguly! At last his brave decisions have paid dividends. That should keep his critics silent. He sould be allowed to continue his good job, which is arguably the toughest job in Indian cricket. Unfortunately in our country, people do not recognise a good cricket brain when they see one. They look for perfection and that is impossible to get.
Arijit Biswas, India

Congratulations to India on a well deserved victory. However, for the second Test in a row West Indies performed well and fought hard. All credit to them - this series is not over by any means.

Lara is regaining form, the pace quartet is improving and if they can just find a good replacement for the disappointing Murray, India will have a tough job on their hands.
Luc, Belgium

The Second Test between India and the West Indies will go down as one of the greatest Test Matches in history. Fortunes were fluctuating between two sides on the day five and it was an enthralling and entertaining Test match.

Ganguly rotated his bowlers so well, and the fall of Brian Lara and Carl Hooper in successive overs turned the match in India's favour. Excellent Cricket!
Renga, USA

All credit to the Indians for their fighting spirit and thrilling victory. You've made me proud!
Sanj, Liverpool, UK

With the benefit of hindsight it's great to read what the sceptics had to say about India. This second Test proves a lot of people wrong on two counts. Firstly, it was an absorbing match; and second, India came out on top. It just goes to prove that you can never rule India out.
Vikas Sethi, US/India

Congratulations to India! They finally did it, but not before going through some anxious moments. I wonder how different it would have been with Kumble in the team. Our team should be picked on the merits of a player's ability, not on the amount of grass on the wicket! The team got away this time, but let's get Kumble back for the next match.
Wesley, USA

Much has been said about the lack of zeal and inertness of Ganguly's captaincy, but at the crucial juncture of the second Test, he has come up trumps.

Owing to his courageous decision of playing fast bowlers instead of ineffective spinners on a grassy but deteriorating wicket, India have triumphed over the Windies in Port of Spain.

His field placing has been imaginative and has reaped rich rewards on various occasions. I hope this will smother the detractors for a while!
Atri Guha, USA

The second Test was wonderful - a reminder of how exciting a Test match can be. It was nice to see very gritty performances from Laxman, Ganguly and Chanderpaul and some excellent, controlled medium pace bowling in the last innings from Srinath and Nehra. I'm quite looking forward to the rest of the series.
Dilip, US

Hooper has always been a pain for Indians ever since he made a debut century against India in 1987. Even though I am an Indian supporter I am a big fan of Hooper who never did justice to his talents.

Congratulations on his double ton. It is too sad this cricket mad country India cannot produce even two bowlers who can shine on all surfaces.
Kumar, USA

This is going to be very tight. Even though West Indies are in their rebuilding stage, I believe that they can win. It will however, be a sad to loss to India of they lose.
Zaynab, Barbados

Indians simply cant play PACE.
Sainarayan, Canada

This should be a good, tightly fought series. The pitches in the Caribbean are now slow and lifeless and therefore there may be a few draws and a close score line.
Bijal Patel, UK

Neither team is capable of bowling out the other. So there will be uninspiring captaincy, uninspiring batting, uninspiring fielding and uninspiring bowling. Since Lara and Tendulkar are not bowlers it will have plenty of dull sessions.
Simran, USA

India are tigers only on paper. When it comes to facing good pace bowling all Indian batsmen are suspect, and their bowling attack is inconsistent - except on spinner friendly wickets.
Satish Krishna, Swiss

Harbajan's absence may put India slightly at a disadvantage. But if Srinath is complemented by any bowler India will have a realistic chance of winning the series, barring a "Lara miracle".
Naveen, USA

India's spin duo is likely to cause problems, especially Harbhajan. Admittedly, this is India's best chance to win abroad, but knowing their batting inabilities, they will suffer collapse after collapse. They had a better chance in Zimbabwe and they failed.

I can't see them winning a single Test (better to be pessimistic and feel overjoyed when something nice does happen!), but all the best to them anyway. I hope they avoid losing at least.
Zahid, Leicester, UK

The Windies have a good team - the best team for a home series for quite a while. I have not seen any surprises, but at least the selectors have sat down and done some sound thinking. I am looking forward to a great series.
Tyrone Durham, St Vincent

This is a critical series for India and the West Indies to gauge whether not they need to re-build. A number of careers are also on the line. If India lose the series (and they are more favoured) then it is end of captaincy for Ganguly.

India on paper have a strong batting line-up, and now is the time for demonstrating that they are not paper tigers. The Windies have everything to prove, and on home soil can throw up surprises. And of course, the return of Lara may be the key turning point of the series.
Ravishankar K, Japan

I think India will win because they have a formidable side and also they are strong in batting as well as in bowling.
Anand Krishnan, India

People writing off this WI - India series as one between a "has-been" and a "wannabe" just don't know their cricket. This series is going to be tightly contested between two teams who, based on recent reputation, cannot be more evenly matched. Both squads have had good hard fought games at home, while being pathetically out of depth away from friendly shores.

The only team in recent times, with the exception of Zimbabwe and Bangladesh, to be worse than India when playing away from home are the WI. Teams clicking as a solid unit will be important in this series, for both these teams suffer from a severe lack of consistent performances. In this regard I prefer India, and predict a 2-1 Test series in favour of the visitors. Let the games begin!
Vasisht Venkatesh, USA

This series is all about killer instinct and team play. If Lara continues his good form you are going to see a great amount of Indian blood spilled. So the real battle is between Lara and the spin duo.

Also it is such a sad state of affairs for the Indians, that with such great talents in place they are not able to pull together as a great winning team. The blame needs to be squarely placed on the captain's door step. Saurav needs to provide stellar leadership on the lines of Nasser Hussain (a great underdog captain performance).
Devi Prasad, Los Angeles, CA

Now may be the best chance for India to change their luck. The West Indies on the other hand have nothing to lose but as I have always maintained this series would bring lots of surprises.
Ali Nizamani, Malaysia / Pakistan

WI will win. Just because they are good in home. They beat Australia and they can beat anyone in their own soil.
Rajib, Bangladesh

India will do it this time. The reasons: a long series with a chance to come back, provided rain doesn't intervene. Decent pace attack with experienced Srinath and young and lively Zaheer backed up by accurate Kumble and sensational Sardar. Batting; Sachin as usual. SS Das a dependable opener, Rahull the wall, Sourav is back in form plus Wisden Laxaman. Only blemish in the wicket-keeping dept. but I'm sure India will pull it this time.
Chennaiboy, India

It is tough to pick a winner at this point, but I am sure at least two Tests will produce results. India will probably lose the first test with pathetic batting collapses in both innings against the West Indian 'fast' bowling.

It will improve substantially in the next couple of Tests, but the games will end in draws because of the Indian team's lack of killer instinct. The fifth Test will probably be like the Test India lost in the last series, with India chasing a very small target. The question is, what will happen this time?
Krish, Indian in USA

Most likely result of the series will be India winning a Test and losing the series.
Srinivas, USA

The Indians looks a bit more shaky than the West Indians at the moment. Often Indian bowling comes good on the tours and batting withers under short (around the rib cage) bowling. I am looking for miracles from Indians this time around too. Let the best team win.
Sai, UK

India can win the series in West Indies if they pick the right eleven players for each Test. They can't blindly play three seamers every time, most of whom are average pacers anyway. They can rely on their traditional strength, spin bowling.

Contrary to the popular belief, spin bowlers can be very effective in the West Indies, as shown in the past by great bowlers like Gupte, Bedi and Prasanna. India should also play specialized opening batsman like Wasim Jaffar rather than a make-shift opener like Dasgupta who can also (barely) keep wickets.

Give opportunities to talented youngsters like Jaffar and Mongia to show case their skills and zeal and end results can be amazing. After all, it was a young lad named Gavaskar who changed the fortunes in India's favour in 1971 when his captain showed confidence in him against a West Indian team made of great players such as Sobers, Kanhai, Holder et al.
Sunil Anaokar, USA

West Indies will win this series if and only if they bowl and field up to their potential. India's bowling, especially if it is dependent on Kumble and Harbhajan Singh, will be in for an unpleasant surprise from the likes of Lara, Hoops, Sarwan and Chanders.

If they bowl Sachin line and length moving away (outswingers) they will contain him - a tall order - but it must be done. He's the only threat now that Sehwag will not be there; pity, but W.I. have the upper hand and will prevail.
A Neil, Canada

Well, it's a close call to predict the winner of this series. I would have liked to see Agarkar in the current Indian set-up. Nonetheless, India for the first time are having pace bowling options to support the world class spinners that they have.

On their earlier tour Abey Kuruvilla was their main bowler yet India lost the series narrowly. I have a feeling that the time has come for this Indian team to put their pathetic overseas record behind them. I predict an Indian victory.
Vijay Wagh, USA

India has the potential to win if they want to. Their problem is they are pretty inconsistent. If they forget about how they did against West Indies in the past and start thinking about the present and concentrate on the game now, they will win. All they need to think is how they beat the mighty Aussies in India 1-0.
mahabala Amith Shetty, USA

Given the Indians' performance against a second-string Guyana team, they have absolutely no chance of winning this series. Their batting is brittle as ever and they will be embarassed by the WI team 3-0.
Andrew Kannan, US

India will surely lose the series. Indian batsman will, once again, let the team down. As long as they receive short-quick stuff they will be more than happy to return to the comfort of the pavilion. I can see Tendulkar scoring one or two centuries, but that would only save one or two matches for India. West Indies will win the series 1-0, or may be even 2-0.
Pramod Surve, India

India will win the series by a narrow margin, either 1-0 or 2-1. Windies will dominate India initially with their inexperienced pace on bouncy, fast pitches but Indian batsmen will adapt after a Test or two, and the Indian spin attack will strike rich even on grassy pitches, mostly in the third or fourth innings, to bring them their narrow victory in the test series.
Esbee, USA

This is a series that I am very much looking forward to. Both sides have a lot to prove due to inconsistent series in the last few years. The batting will hopefully be explosive on both sides but I think India may land a much-needed overseas victory if Yohannan, Nehra, or Khan can complement Srinath.

It must also be taken into account that the West Indies are not the best against a potent spin attack of Kumble and Harbhajan even though they are bowling on a greener and less dangerous wicket. Brace yourselves for Tendulkar showing Lara who's boss. Enjoy.
Bhairav, UK

This series has all the ingredients to be perfectly dull. I'll be happy if even one of the five Tests throws up a result.
Dheeraj Kakar, US

Windies will win this one easy. This is because the Indians are "tigers at home, but lambs abroad." Don't underestimate the Windies attack: Dillon and company can suprise a few.
Rahul Persaud, US

The less pathetic team will win. WI are not much better than Bangladesh right now and India tend to range from being better than Australia to worse than Bangladesh.
Rahul, USA

A victory in this series for either side could represent a long awaited turning point. The Indians have undoubted potential in their batting line up, as do the Windies. However, the bowling of both sides lacks consistent pace and penetration.

I believe that experience and desire will seperate the two teams. This should be a close one but my money's on the youthful West Indies.
Leon, UK

This will be an exciting series to watch regardless of the quality of the teams. WI posess some fine young talents in Marlon Samuels, Sarwan and Chris Gayle. If you add stalwarts Carl Hooper and Brian Lara into the equation you have a talented batting lineup.

While the bowling looks thin, one cannot underestimate the new brigade of pace bowlers. Marlon Black impressed on his debut tour of Australia and much has been said about the young Sanford. For India, the batting has class and depth, whilst the bowling has variety, something that has been missing in the Indian team for years.

This should be a an exciting series so long as the indians play to their potential. While many have touted the Test series as a battle between Lara and Tendulkar, the real battle will be between the bowlers of both sides. The guile and spin of Kumble and Harbhajan v the pace of the West Indies. Irrespective of the outcome, this will be an enthralling series.
Vinay, Australia

West Indies are a very weak team but only India can make them look world class. Lara and co will get loads of runs. The friendly pace attack consisting of Dillon, Cuffy and Collins will improve their mediocre bowling stats no end. Nonetheless, come on India!
Nibs, UK

Both teams lack killer instinct. West Indies are in the rebuilding process, so their primary goal will be not to lose. India's primary goal is to win the series. One would hope to see India outscore West Indies in every innings, but this Indian team may not be capable of that.
Uthams, USA

West Indies will win the series. I can foresee masterpiece innings by Lara and Tendulkar but the re-emergence of Shivnarine Chanderpaul who has been steadily playing back into form. He has not scored a Test century for nearly three years but four years ago he was nearly mobbed by the Barbados crowd when he scored he maiden Test century against the Indians. Look out for Sarwan as well.
Mark, London, UK

If WI picks their best 11 and stop the insularity that exists under the unsuccessful captaincies of Walsh, Lara, Adams and now Hooper then they will win. I beg the selectors to give the players from the windwards and leewards their fair chance.

However, the key to the series is the emergence of our young batting stars like Gayle, Morton, Sarwan, R Hinds and Smith, all of whom should play. Look also for S Williams to finally justify his immense batting talents. Our bowling is not up to par but the Indian batting is inconsistent, and once Tendulkar is contained it might be a clean sweep.
Bert, St Kitts

The West Indies will win this series.The new team is: Gayle, Smith, Sarwan, Chanderpaul, Lara, Hooper, Jacobs, Dillon, Powell, Sandford and R Hinds. All these players are killers of spin bowling, they also love these gentle medium pacers the Indians have. The Windies have four bowlers. These are not fearsome or deadly but are workers who want to get the job done. This batting line-up will give India over 500 runs every time they have to bat.
Dhannies, Canada

Although India's batting prowess is exemplary, especially given the powerful status of Sachin Tendulkar in the arena of world cricket, one feels that Indian bowling is sub-standard.

Their reliance on the spin duo of Harbhajan and Kumble will not yield anything on the fast tracks of the Caribbean where the lacklustre Indian medium fast bowling will be ineffectual. India thus will have to rise from the ashes if it is to win in the Caribbean. Given their past status away from home, this looks like a definite impossibility.
Tayyab Balagamwala, Pakistan

India win a series abroad? As Vince says, "no chance in hell"! India, a side which can't win a series abroad against Zimbabwe or even Bangladesh for that matter, will "choke" again as usual. I hate to say this though, being an Indian team supporter, but the Indian team doesn't have the spine to win anything abroad, let alone against a side like the West Indies. I won't be surprised if some new records are broken by the West Indians on this current tour!
SSP, India

Much as I'd love to see India win away from home, I cant see it happening in the West Indies. The bounce and pace of the Carribbean pitches will leave them floundering once again.
Sanj, Liverpool, UK

Sorry, but India will not win the series. Their bowling is too weak. Kumble and Harbajan Singh are stars at home. Look at their records! Apart from Tendulkar, the batting is too inconsistent.
Earl W. Robinson, St. Vincent & the Grenadines W.I.

It's a tough call between two sides that are currently struggling for form and victories. While the West Indies are fighting hard to make a team half as good as the unbeatable one of the 1970s, India are struck with the perennial bane of inconsistency.

No other team in the world could have so many quality players and produce such spineless performances. The West Indian home advantage, and Indians' tendency to choke under pressure will ultimately lead to a West Indian victory - 1-0, or maybe 2-0.
Rajappa Tadepalli, India

It is going to be a close series. The outcome depends on how well India contain Lara. If he cuts loose, WI will win. If not, India will win.
Arun, USA

The tour will show the class of Wasim Jaffer as an opener and Zaheer Khan and Tinu Younanan as seamers. Hooper's elegance and Lara's heroics wont save the series for the Windies.
Ravi, United States

India have a golden opportunity here to win a Test series abroad. Both sides are rebuilding, and both teams have a lot of young inexperienced players. But I strongly believe India have the advantage - whether they make full use of it is a different story. India's success depends on four key players: VVS Laxman, Sourav Ganguly, Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan.
Shyam D, Wales/India

India with will have only have themselves to blame if they cannot outperform a largely untested and inexperienced Caribbean side. The major chink in their armour will be their fielding and their lack of killer instinct.
Atri Guha, USA

If India are to win this Test series they need to do more homework prior to the first match. They are definitely capable of winning, but they need to learn to play under pressure. Also, it is time for Sachin Tendulkar and other big batting stars of Indian Cricket to start performing when it really matters.
Sanjay, India

As much as I would like to see India win, I think that almost two decades of poor performances away from home have left India psychologically scarred. It is a difficult mind set to get out of, notwithstanding the positive comments that seem to be coming out of the Indian camp over the last few days.

That said, however, the West Indies are suffering from their worst form in history, and this is probably the best chance India are ever going to get to win a series away from home. If India do not deliver, I think the Indian Board will look to change captains again, thereby continuing the vicious cycle that has enveloped Indian cricket for so long.
Anindya Raychaudhuri, UK