All signs point to Nagpur draw

India and South Africa lock horns in the first match of a two-Test series, beginning in Nagpur on Saturday, and whichever way I look at it, I find it hard to split the two sides.

In the outright preview, we discussed just how little separates these two teams. Both have been in good form but both have problems. India will be without "The Wall" - Rahul Dravid - whose return to form over the past 12 months has helped improve India's performances no end.

His injury and the absence of Yuvraj Singh mean that India's top six in Nagpur will show a couple of new boys, with Subramaniam Badrinath likely to come in, with Murali Vijay perhaps promoted to No 3. Badrinath has been knocking on the door for years now but coming in to face South Africa is a pretty daunting challenge.

India's bowling looks fairly strong, though, with Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh and Ishant Sharma a handful for anyone, even a batting line-up as strong as that of South Africa, who in Jacques Kallis boast arguably the most under-rated batsman of his generation.

Kallis gets none of the fanfare of the likes of Sachin Tendulkar or Ricky Ponting but quietly gets on the with the business of scoring hundreds, something he did superbly well in the recent draw with England.

But South Africa will be playing their first series since the surprise departure of coach Mickey Arthur, so how they respond will be very interesting. Bet365 make India 2/1 to win the match, with South Africa 10/3 and the draw narrowly odds-on at 20/21.

There is not much history to go on, in terms of the ground, for this match will be played at the new VCA Stadium, rather than the old VCA ground. The one Test that was played here did end in an India win, though, when they beat Australia by 172 runs.

That match saw Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag take it in turns to score the runs for India and if they are to succeed, especially in the absence of Dravid and Yuvraj, then the chances are they will need to play well again.

Bet365 make Tendulkar, Sehwag and the other opener Gautam Gambhir all 3/1 chances to top-score for India in the first innings. Gambhir has been as good as anyone over the past two years and he and Sehwag are a formidable opening partnership.

It's likely the top-scorer will come from those three, but VVS Laxman - himself an injury doubt - is 6/1, Murali Vijay 7/1, captain MS Dhoni 15/2 and Badrinath 10/1.

For South Africa, Kallis is favourite at 3/1, with captain Graeme Smith 10/3 and AB De Villiers 9/2. Ashwell Prince, who had a pretty poor series against England, is 5/1, as is Hashim Amla, while Alviro Petersen is 6/1 and JP Duminy 7/1.

Bet365 have also priced up a match between the respective opening partnerships and here India should have the edge. Prince looked to be out of sorts against England and will have to take on Zaheer and Ishant, while Sehwag and Gambhir are absolutely top drawer when they are on song, even if Sehwag takes plenty of risks. At 4/6 they are worth the bet.

It is hard to go beyond the draw here, such are the relative strengths of the two. I wouldn't be surprised if India nicked it, but with no Dravid, their solidity is questionable, so the draw is more likely, at 20/21, especially as we will know more about how each side is shaping up after this, so the second Test could see some fireworks.