Recent successes give Pakistan the edge

Pakistan's continued problems and West Indies' decline have meant that what was once a highly anticipated contest is now a battle of two mediocre teams struggling for consistency. Right through the 1980s and mid 1990s, Pakistan proved to be one of the biggest challengers to West Indian supremacy, drawing three consecutive series between 1986 and 1990. Since 2000, though, the story has been very different. Pakistan, despite their own issues, have been able to dominate West Indies consistently at home and in neutral venues. West Indies, on the other hand, still have a favourable home record against Pakistan, and have not lost a single series at home.

Although Pakistan have won just four Tests and lost 11 in the West Indies, they have been far more competitive in recent times. In 2000, West Indies sneaked a one-wicket win and in 2005, the series was drawn 1-1. Pakistan will, however, derive confidence from the fact that they triumphed 2-0 in both the series played outside the West Indies since 2000. A crushing ten-wicket win in the World Cup quarter-final against West Indies and a win in the recent ODI series make Pakistan the favourites going into the Test series.

Both sides have been plagued by numerous selection issues in the last few years, and as a result, their performances have plummeted. Pakistan have produced the odd good display, like the win over Australia in England, but have overall been extremely disappointing, winning just five Tests and losing 14 since 2007. The loss of Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir is a huge setback for a team that has stayed competitive primarily because of a strong bowling attack. West Indies' fortunes have gone downhill since 2000 and there has been very little improvement in their record. In the last four years, West Indies have a win-loss ratio of 0.18 in Tests, which is only better than that of Bangladesh. From the table, it can be seen that West Indies batting record at home is better than Pakistan's away batting performance. Their bowling however, has not been incisive and is likely to be tested by Pakistan.

The absence of quite a few top batsmen has left both teams with significantly weaker batting line-ups. Brian Lara, who has since retired, and Mohammad Yousuf were the top run-getters in Tests played between the two teams since 2005. Chris Gayle, who is not a part of the squad, averages nearly 50 in Tests since 2007. He has six centuries including a triple-hundred against Sri Lanka in the same period and his absence is a major blow to the West Indies's chances. However, the return of the experienced Shivnarine Chanderpaul, the highest run-getter for West Indies in Tests since 2007, and Ramnaresh Sarwan is a boost to the middle order. Lendl Simmons, who scored half-centuries in the last two ODIs against Pakistan, and Darren Bravo will be the key batsmen against a fairly strong Pakistan attack.

The loss of the highly experienced Younis Khan is likely to upset the balance of the Pakistani batting. The performances of Misbah-ul-Haq and Umar Akmal will be crucial to the success of a talented but inexperienced line-up.

With Jerome Taylor and Dwayne Bravo playing in the IPL and Asif and Amir banned, the bowling front is also depleted for both teams. Fidel Edwards' return after a long layoff is a plus for the West Indies and his opening combination with the pacy Kemar Roach will be a challenge for Pakistan. Devendra Bishoo, who impressed in the ODIs, will make his Test debut in the absence of Sulieman Benn. Umar Gul, the highest wicket taker in the 2006-07 series against West Indies, will lead the pace attack with Wahab Riaz, who had a successful World Cup. Saeed Ajmal, who was superb when Pakistan played West Indies in the World Cup, is a potent option against a team that struggles against quality spin.

The venues for the two Tests are Providence, in Guyana, and Basseterre, in St Kitts. In the two Tests it has hosted, Basseterre has witnessed two high-scoring draws (average runs per wicket 55.85). In the only Test match played in Providence, Sri Lanka defeated West Indies by 121 runs with Chaminda Vaas and Muttiah Muralitharan picking up 14 wickets between them.