India start as statistical underdogs

The seven-match one-day series against Sri Lanka is a critical one for Indian cricket, and almost everything will depend on how the players, especially Rahul Dravid, the new captain, fare in a tough series against opponents who have not been in better form since the 1996 World Cup.

Sri Lanka's record in their last 50 one-day matches is fantastic - 34 wins and only 16 losses. And it gets better: in their last 25 games, they have won 19, a clear indication of a team on the rise. Sri Lanka haven't toured India since 1999 but they've won seven of their last 11 games in the subcontinent outside home (four against Pakistan, one each against India, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh).

India, on the other hand, have lost 24 and won 22 of the 47 ODIs that they've played at home since 2000. India's tigers-at-home tag has taken a severe beating after 2001: they've lost 21 of their 37 games while six wins came against Zimbabwe and West Indies. To put a different spin on India's home blues, they have won two, drawn one and lost four of their last seven ODI series at home (this doesn't include the one-off BCCI platinum-jubilee match against Pakistan, which India lost). Look closer and you'll find that both the wins came against Zimbabwe.

Head to head, Sri Lanka have 11 wins to India's seven in their last 20 ODIs. They have come up tops in five of their last six encounters against India. The solitary loss was in a match without Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas.

Dravid will be determined not to let captaincy affect his batting, and he has his counterpart to look up to for the perfect example. Marvan Atapattu has averaged a stunning 52.67 over the last 12 months. All the Sri Lankan batsmen have healthy averages over the past year, while most of the Indians have struggled. And with Mohammad Kaif, VVS Laxman and Sourav Ganguly not in the line-up and Sachin Tendulkar returning from a long injury lay-off, Dravid, Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh will have to shoulder much of the responsibility for scoring runs.

One of India's major worries will be the form of Harbhajan Singh who has taken just 11 wickets in his last 17 games at an expensive 65.55 apiece. While a few Indian bowlers are inexperienced in the one-day format (even Irfan Pathan has played just two ODIs in India), the Sri Lankan slow-bowlers are experts at keeping the batsmen on a leash. On head-to-head form, Sri Lanka clearly have the upper hand, India, however, are playing at home, an advantage they haven't made the best use of in recent times.