CAPITAL CAPTAIN: Hooper has shown West Indies the way forward in the series Neither Lara nor Tendulkar is as reliable as either team would like to believe.

When the West Indies won the third Test in Barbados, the consensus was that the home side should have been 2-0 up in the series by then. West Indies captain Carl Hooper agrees and I concur. I actually think that it would now be very difficult for India to win another Test, much less the series. The West Indies should have also won the Trinidad Test; except for some sloppy batting in the first innings of that Test, they played well. In Barbados, they played brilliantly, perhaps the best that I have seen them play in the seven or so years that I have been following them as a sports journalist.

It is not often that I give real kudos to the West Indies cricket team, but there was hardly a foot placed wrong in that third Test, even when they dropped a few half-chances. Yet I doubt that anything special had to be said to the team to motivate them after the embarrassment-that is the only word-of Trinidad & Tobago.

Having played Test cricket I know that cricketers, like any other professional sportsmen, react without even knowing that they react, especially when they know that they have not really done as well as they are capable of doing. That is what happened to the West Indies in Barbados. They were simply determined to win that third game.

The bowlers have ruled the roost in this series with the West Indies, led by Merv Dillon, a much more organised bowling unit than the Indians. The Indians are being led by Javagal Srinath but to my mind Ashish Nehra is probably better at this stage. Good runs and some special innings have been played, but the bowlers still rule. That is a long way from what so many of us thought at the start of the series. We thought the series would be dominated by the batsmen, headed by the Indian master Sachin Tendulkar and the West Indian supremo Brian Lara. In my mind, they are still just about even in the series but somewhat below par or, at least, below our expectations.

Maybe neither is as reliable as either team would like to believe. Normally Tendulkar comes out with a swagger and a definite air of superiority. That has not been the case in this series. Indeed, when Tendulkar batted in Barbados, one could sense that he was not fully sure as to what to do next. Even when he got his century in Trinidad, he gave the impression of being somewhat tentative and unsure at the start of his innings. I am sure that after three consecutive low scores even he is somewhat unsure as to what may follow. The only thing that Tendulkar has more than most though is an inner peace, a somewhat angel-like cocoon that seems to lift him to higher levels. He will need that in great supply if he is to help India save this series as the West Indies have certainly taken the initiative after their win in Barbados.

Lara too has been somewhat unsure but perhaps for another reason. He certainly is trying hard but he also knows his limitations now. He is not controlling that right hand as well as he would like. He has still not recuperated from his hand injury from the Sri Lanka tour and that makes it difficult for him to do as he pleases. Lara, though, is trying to be consistent and if he makes a regular 50 or so it certainly helps the production rate and stability of the team's middle order.

There are other batsmen who have been much more influential in the series. Shivnarine Chanderpaul is probably the most consistent batsman on either side, being harried for that position by team-mate Ramnaresh Sarwan and India's best batsman on the tour so far, V.V.S. Laxman. Rahul Dravid and his captain Sourav Ganguly are trying hard but the pressure of not having a good opening pair is hurting India more than it hurts the West Indies. India did have the best opening stand from either team so far in the Bridgetown Test but I would also suggest that neither team is as confident at the top as they should be and, therefore, I think that the middle-order batsmen of both teams are under more pressure. The West Indies' bowling is just that bit better than the tourists'.

Hooper has himself taken on a special role, coming in at No. 5 but batting like an opener. He has had one of the middle-order batsmen with him and then has had to keep the tail together. His sense of responsibility has been a shining example. As regards the series now, India are set behind. They do not only have to beat the West Indies but they have to beat their own fears, which were so obvious in the third Test, if they are to win their first series in the Caribbean since 1971.

On the other hand, the West Indies have already come back from adversity to even the series, so they are on a natural high. Psychologically, they have the upper hand now. With the batsman-friendly Antigua Recreation Ground and the normally bouncy and pacy Sabina Park pitches to come, and Wavell Hinds included, West Indies' flashing blades will be in evidence.

Another feature of the series has been the umpiring errors, even with the help of the technology. On many occasions, of all the people at the ground or watching on TV, the third umpire seems to be only person who interprets an event in the way he does, leading to the most peculiar decisions.

In any case I doubt that India has the firepower to beat the West Indies at either venue, so they will have to try to do it with guile. It will mean that their batsmen will have to have the resilience to withstand what is thrown at them, but will then have to reply with either Anil Kumble or Harbhajan Singh, or even be tempted to play both, but I doubt that they would go that way.

The tempo for the series has swung towards the West Indies now. I would be very surprised if they allow themselves to be thwarted. The West Indies could actually win this series 3-1.

Former West Indian fast bowler Colin Croft is columnist for the website cricinfo.com