Mahendra Singh Dhoni believes India spinners have a role to play against West Indies

Mahendra Singh Dhoni says spinners could play a key role in India's four-match Test series in the West Indies.

Caribbean pitches have always had a reputation of being a paceman's paradise, but Dhoni does not believe this to be the case anymore.

And while touring the West Indies, with the first Test live on Sky Sports from Thursday, India will be able to call on the services of two of the world's leading spinners - Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.

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Speaking to reporters in New Delhi, former captain Dhoni said that the same pitches where fast bowlers such as Curtly Ambrose and Michael Holding once wreaked havoc, were now also conducive to slow bowling.

"What we have seen over the years is that the West Indian wickets have slowed down," he said. "This means the spinners will have a major role in the series."

The current attack is spearheaded by Mohammed Shami, who is only just returning following a lengthy injury lay-off.

We have seen over the years that the West Indian wickets have slowed down

But Dhoni insisted India had a fine pool of talent to call on in the Caribbean, where Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav and Bhuvneshwar Kumar are also likely to play a key role.

"Good thing about Indian bowling right now is that they have a good pool of eight to 10 quick bowlers who were all pushing for selection for the West Indies tour squad," he added.

"So that gives management the liberty of picking the best bowlers and whatever is needed in that scenario."

And Dhoni is also confident about India's batting prowess which has Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma and Murali Vijay all in decent shape.

"We have a set of six batters who have played Test cricket for quite some time now," Dhoni said.

"If you see the middle part of the batting it looks very good and they have good experience of playing outside India, so I think it will be a very good series for the Indian set up." 

Dhoni remains India's limited overs skipper, although the Test side will be led in the West Indies by Virat Kohli.