We will stay No1: Laxman

Hyderabad. VVS Laxman, who has been named the vice captain for the upcoming test series against the West Indies is confident that the team will put up a good show in the Caribbean islands. He accepted the fact that it will be a tough tour as the team will be missing their key players. India will be without the services of Sachin, Sehwag and Gambhir who have been the corner stones of their recent success in test cricket.

He instilled faith that the young replacements would rise to the occasion and perform up to the mark. He also made it clear that the absence of some of the senior players doesn’t make any difference to him and he will try to perform the best he can.

"We will definitely miss the services of Sachin, Viru and Gautam. That said, even when they were there I always performed to the best of my ability. This time will be no different. Their replacements Murali Vijay, Abhinav Mukund and Virat Kohli are up and coming youngsters. If we play to our potential we'll definitely win. We won the Test series there last time and we hope to repeat the feat," Laxman said.

The wristy batsman agreed to the fact that playing West Indies in their home conditions is never going to be easy, "West Indies in West Indies is very tough competition. They have good match-winners, so it will be a good contest. How you meet the challenge is very important. I've always given a lot of importance to my performance overseas."

India’s Caribbean sojourn begins with the first test at Jamaica on June 20. Laxman was not only confident of India winning in West Indies but was also upbeat about carrying the form to the England tour and retaining the No.1 test ranking.