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 India and West Indies are looking to their respective batting superstars to tilt the balance in their favour as the two teams go into the fifth and final cricket Test here tomorrow seeking to break the 1-1 deadlock in the series.
The anxiously awaited showdown between Tendulkar and Lara failed to take-off in the first four Tests and the captains of both the teams were hoping the big occasion would spur the two master batsmen to produce their best.
After a good start with scores of 79 and 117 in his first two knocks of the series, Tendulkar has managed only eight runs from his next four innings, having been dismissed for naught three times.
On the other hand, Lara began with a zero, then compiled scores of 52, 47 and 55 before falling to Anil Kumble for four in the fourth Test.
However, the two captains seemed least concerned with the below-expectation performances of their star players and felt the series could still live up to the hype if the two geniuses fired in this hour of need for their teams.
“He is a legend, a class act,” said Ganguly about Tendulkar. “He has failed but that’s human and I believe a three-figure knock from him is due in the next innings.”
Similarly, Hooper, too, was quite positive about Lara’s chances in this Test.
“We haven’t seen the best of Brian or, for that matter, Tendulkar, but I am confident he would fire in Sabina Park,” Hooper said. “If Brian and Sachin fire, it’s going to be a fitting finale to a well-contested series.”
 “Lara is a big match player and he would certainly do something special here,” Hooper said. “We have done well in batting but without Lara, I believe, we are yet to fire on all four cylinders.”
Despite the absence of any special knock from these two greats, batting seems to be the least of the worries for either of the teams with V V S Laxman, Rahul Dravid and Ganguly doing a fine job for India and Hooper and Shivnarine Chanderpaul completely dominating the show for West Indies.
While Hooper and Chanderpaul have struck three centuries each and are the top run-getters in this series, Laxman is the highest scorer so far for India with an aggregate of 386 runs with a century and three half-centuries and is closely followed by Dravid with 369 runs. Ganguly also had a few good knocks and has so far scored 258 runs.
There has been good news for both teams in the opening department also with Wasim Jaffer and Wavel Hinds coming up with attractive knocks in the fourth Test.
There was speculation that India might rest opener Shiv Sunder Das, who has had a miserable series so far, and bring in Sanjay Bangar in his place but there was no confirmation from the team management.
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