Pressure on India to stay in touch with England in LG ICC Test Championship table

India goes into the four-match Test series with the West Indies, starting on Friday in Antigua, knowing it needs a conclusive win to maintain the pressure on the sides above it in the LG ICC Test Championship table.

Rahul Dravid's line-up is currently third in the list, two rating points behind second-placed England and trailing runaway leaders Australia by 20 points.

And with England poised to gain at least one point if it avoids defeat in the third and final Test of its series against Sri Lanka, also starting on Friday, it means the pressure is on India to stay within touching distance of its nearest rivals.

That can only be done with a crushing success for the visitors as, with India 39 points ahead of the hosts in the LG ICC Test Championship table, it will need to win all its matches against the West Indies to boost its rating.

However, that will be easier said than done. The home side is on a high after it's 4-1 ODI series win and history is also against India as the Asian side has only ever won a single Test series in the Caribbean, way back in 1971.

A 4-0 success for India will lift it to 112 rating points and drop the West Indies to 70, but if the West Indies can turn the LG ICC Test Championship table and the Test form book upside down then it has the chance to really boost its stock.

A 4-0 series win for Lara's men will lift it to 82 rating points, cutting the gap between the West Indies and seventh-placed Sri Lanka to just 13 points, while even victory by the odd Test (1-0 or 2-1) will improve its rating by six points.

That would be a disaster for India as it would drop it to fourth in the table, below Pakistan - just a couple of months after it appeared poised to assume second place, something it would have done had it avoided defeat against England in Mumbai.

So, the stakes are high and, on paper at least, India appears to have the edge before the first ball is bowled.

It has two players - Dravid (2nd) and Virender Sehwag (12th) - among the top 20 batsmen in the LG ICC Player Rankings while the West Indies has just one, albeit Lara (6th). He will have a special reason to start the series in style as the action begins at the venue of his two world-record innings of 375 and 400 not out, against England in 1994 and 2004 respectively.

Further down the batting list, for India, comes the injured Sachin Tendulkar (17th), V.V.S.Laxman (26th) and Yuvraj Singh (50th), while the West Indies have four more players - Shivnarine Chanderpaul (22nd), Chris Gayle (24th), Ramnaresh Sarwan (29th) and Dwayne Bravo (46th) in the top 50.

India has two players in the top 20 of the LG ICC Player Rankings for Test bowlers, evergreen spinner Anil Kumble in eighth and Irfan Pathan, who endured a modest ODI series, in 12th.

Outside that top 20 the visitors have Harbhajan Singh in 22nd spot as well as the young pace-bowling duo of Munaf Patel (51st) and Sreesanth (60th).

The West Indies' representation towards the top end of the bowling list is more limited. Its highest-placed player is Corey Collymore, who has passed a fitness test on an injured ankle, and he lies in 24th position.

Below him is Fidel Edwards in 38th spot and off-spinning all-rounder Gayle (43rd), who made 317 in last year's Antigua Test match against South Africa. Gayle is seventh in the LG ICC Player Rankings for Test all-rounders, while Pathan lies fourth in that list.

Full details of the current LG ICC Test Championship and how future results will impact on the table, as well as the LG ICC Player Rankings can be found here