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The two most exciting and beguiling cricketers of their time, Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar, are on opposite sides for the first time in five years.

Yet the West Indies and India start the Cable & Wireless series today battling each other to escape the lower reaches of the latest International Cricket Council (ICC) ratings.

Lara, the brilliant West Indian returning after a three-month layoff through injury, and Tendulkar, the little Indian maestro, share a host of records, 46 Tests hundreds and averages in excess of 50. But the ICC places their teams ahead only of Zimbabwe and Bangladesh.

Tendulkar, whose average of 58.57 from 91 Tests places him among the all-time batting elite, needs only another two centuries to surpass the legendary Australia Don Bradman's incredible 29 in 52 Tests (from which he averaged just .06 short of an even 100) and nudge closer to the overall record of 34 by another great Indian, Sunil Gavaskar.

Millions of his adoring countrymen will be following his progress, fully expecting him to feast on the inexperienced West Indies bowling.

The West Indies rely on Lara, the flamboyant left-hander from Trinidad, to reply in kind.

They have not always been able to depend on him as India has Tendulkar, for his form tends to fluctuate with his moods. But when he puts his mind to it, as he did in compiling Test cricket's highest individual score, 375, against England in Antigua eight years ago and more recently in three Tests in Sri Lanka last December when he compiled 688 runs at 114.66, not even Tendulkar is as devastating.

He dislocated and fractured his elbow in an on-field collision in a subsequent One-Day International, an injury that required two months to properly heal.

Since then his match cricket has been confined to an innings of 71 against a touring amateur club team from Surrey in Port-of-Spain two weeks ago. But he reports no discomfort batting in the nets.

Captains Carl Hooper of the West Indies and Saurav Ganguly of India are adamant that there are 22 players on the field, not just two, and that the series will surely be decided by more than the anticipated face-off between Lara and Tendulkar.

The numbers strongly favour India, even given their appalling record overseas where they have not won a series since they overcame Sri Lanka 1-0 in Sri Lanka eight years ago and the West Indies' resilience at home where they have fallen only twice in the past 28 years.

Apart from Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Ganguly and opener Shiv Das are Indian batsmen who average over 40. Lara is the only West Indian in that league.

While the veteran leg-spinner Anil Kumble has 316 wickets to his name and fast bowler Javagal Srinath 219, the West Indies are so short of experience the spearhead of their attack, Merv Dillon, has just 76.

© The Barbados Nation