Although India haven't won an away Test series since their 1986 tour of England, West Indies coach Roger Harper is not too encouraged by that dismal record going into a home series against Sourav Ganguly's team. His logic: West Indies themselves haven't done well in recent times. Harper spoke exclusively to Wisden.com. Considering the poor overseas track record of the Indians, do you see the forthcoming series as an opportunity for a West Indies turnaround?
We have not been a top Test nation and haven't done well in our last few series, so I can't read too much into the Indian overseas track record. We have to get our basics right to be competitive at this level.

Who do you think holds the advantage in the series and where would your money be?
I am not a betting man... these days that word is a taboo in cricket (laughs). What I can say is that we have done better at home than when playing away. But with India having several high quality players, I expect it would be a very competitive series.

Strategies and planning, Michael Holding once said, never worked against Viv Richards. As a coach, do you believe the same is true for Tendulkar as well?
I think one must have a plan against every batsman. It's another thing if the plan actually is effective or not.

Do you see your problems for your batsman against the Indian spinners?
While there is no question that both Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh are good spinners, I don't think the tracks in the Caribbean will be as responsive to them as they are in India. While we respect the Indian spinners, I don't think they will trouble us as much as say we would have been if we were playing in India.

The West Indies bottom half has caved in dramatically in the last five Tests. Where do you think things have gone wrong?
In Sri Lanka, it was Muttiah Muralitharan's high quality spin and Chaminda Vaas's seam which did us in, and at Sharjah, it was the pace of the Pakistan bowlers. Basically, we were not equal to the task against good bowling. The inexperience showed as they kept making the same mistakes.

Do you think your team has become immune to defeats, not reacting the way they should to losses?
When I played, the West Indies team knew to win in every situation. They knew exactly what was required of them and how to go about it. The present team hasn't learnt how to win matches, and, in some situations, how to save games. As a result we keep taking wrong decisions at critical moments.

Is it all in the mind?
A lot of it is mental. Take for example our series against Pakistan at Sharjah, there were a number of half centuries, but not one of them was converted into a hundred.

How much of a difference would the return of Brian Lara make against India?
We sorely missed him against Pakistan at Sharjah. Brian had a tremendous series in Sri Lanka and so did Ramnaresh Sarwan. They are our main batsmen and their return will not only considerably strengthen our batting but also give the team confidence and experience at the top. I believe we will play a lot better against India, more so because it will be a home series.

Indiscipline is often attributed as one of the reasons for the decline of West Indies cricket. Andy Roberts, when he was coach, publicly said that the players would ignore his instructions. What has been your experience?
A lot of our players have not been brought up in an environment of coaching from a young age. It is lack of discipline, in a way, when you consider that we are not good at following instructions. Even when the intent is there, the focus and concentration is not.

Have things changed since Roberts's time?
I think we are improving, but very slowly in many areas. As far as on-field discipline is concerned, the guys are improving, but they need to get there a lot quicker.

How do you see the future of West Indies cricket?
With so many quality youngsters in our ranks, I think we will be very competitive in two years time, and will be up there five years from now. But it will help matters if we have good infrastructure.

Can you elaborate on that?
In some places in the West Indies there is no grassroot-level coaching at all. What I mean by infrastructure is a proper coaching system at those levels. The strength of a nation is determined by the quality at the grassroot level. The cream always rises to the top, so if you have poor quality at the bottom, you will get poor quality at the top. The quality of the team is determined by the quality of the players who could not make it into the squad. Unless you have 11 quality players in the reserves, you cannot be up there. The guys we have are naive, they are actually learning the game at this level.

Do they find it difficult to relate to you when you talk about technique and tactics?
It's tougher for them to grasp the importance of certain things because they were not exposed to it.

H Natarajan is Senior Editor of Wisden.com.

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