I would have liked the last match to be played here, not the first. With the Indian team’s penchant for starting well and then giving it away, at least the series could have ended with a draw. At our last visit here in 2001, we won in Port of Spain to go up, and then, promptly lost in Jamaica and Barbados to lose the series 2-1.

I do not expect India to win this series at all. They will do well to draw. There will be patches when they will play well. But, they do not have the ability to sustain a high level of performance over 15 sessions of a test match. In tests, a couple of poor sessions result in a loss, and that is exactly what will happen. I do not know what happens to these players in the Caribbean. The whole team just cannot get it all together, like they have done, famously, away in Pakistan and Australia.

Of the batsmen, I expect Dravid, VVS, Yuvraj and Dhoni to do well. I expect Jaffer to be steady but only the almighty knows how Sehwag will do. Even though all these batsmen will have some good knocks, there will be the proverbial collapse in a couple of innings and those are the tests we will lose. There will be some big knocks, but they are useless if they do not result in a win, and that has been our problem. Our batsmen will score big in drawn matches.

I have no idea how the bowlers will do. Irfan will be both, good and terrible, alternately. I hope Kumble does well. You always get 110% from him, and one cannot ask for more.

The pitch at Antigua is flat and a draw is expected. There is a chance it may turn later, and that provides the only chance of a result. I expect Lara to have a good series, particularly at this ground. Sarwan, Chanderpaul and Gayle will be our usual tormentors, particularly the first two.

I think we will play 5 bowlers in the match. The likely team is:

Sehwag, Jaffer, Dravid, Yuvraj, Dhoni, Irfan, Bhajji, Agarkar, Kumble, Sreesanth, Munaf.

Hope for the best, folks.