Home advantage huge for India

It seems hard to believe but Sri Lanka have never won a single Test match in India, which makes their chances of taking the series over the next month about as difficult as they could be. India are a formidable side anywhere but especially at home, so it's not going to be easy for Sri Lanka to break their duck when the three-Test encounter gets under way on Monday.

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That winless streak goes back across six series and there has to be some mental hang-up from that fact, even if the Sri Lanka team possesses enough experience and skill to win series against India, as they did last year, for example, when they edged their way to a 2-1 win on home soil.

This, though, is in India and that means India simply have to be favourites. Bet365 make them 4/5, with Sri Lanka 3/1 and the drawn series - always a decent possibility between these two - just 5/4.

In the past five years, India have lost just three Tests at home and they will be itching for revenge after last year's defeat in Sri Lanka. The likes of Sourav Ganguli have gone but the India team is well settled and Yuvraj Singh has finally cemented his place in the side.

Sri Lanka will base much of their hopes on the spin twins of Muttiah Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis but just how destructive they will be will depend a lot on the kind of pitches the Indians lay down.

There is a three-way tie at the top of the correct score markets, with a 1-0 win for India, a 2-0 win for them and a 1-1 draw all sharing favouritism at 4/1. Sri Lanka taking it 1-0 is a 15/2 shot, while it's 8/1 that India win it 2-1 and 10-1 that they enjoy a whitewash.

A 0-0 draw - not a bad bet between these two - is on offer at 10/1 while it's 12/1 that they win it 2-1 and 33/1 that they triumph 3-0.

Some things never change, it seems, and so Sachin Tendulkar is top of the market to be India's top series runscorer at 3/1. The little maestro remains a world class player and in the past 12 months seems to have actually regained some of his confidence.

Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag - who I think could have a big series - are both 10/3 while the old stager, Rahul Dravid, is a 5/1 chance. VVS Laxman is 13/2 and Yuvraj and captain MS Dhoni are both 10/1.

For Sri Lanka, Kumar Sangakkara is the 9/4 favourite, ahead of Mahela Jayawardene at 11/4, while Tillekeratne Dilshan and Thilan Samaraweera are each 4/1.

In the bowling markets, the returning Zaheer Khan shares favouritism with Harbhajan Singh for India at 9/4, while for Sri Lanka, it's between two - Muralitharan at 5/4 and Mendis at 11/8.

I would say that if India play anywhere close to their best then they will win the series, and to be honest, seeing as Sri Lanka have never won a Test in India, the 4/5 on offer is a pretty generous price.

Please note that odds are correct at time of publication and are subject to change.