India likely to be big favourites

Muttiah Muralitharan is looking forward to bowling to Sachin Tendulkar once more © Getty Images

Having come from behind to draw the one-day series with South Africa, India get back to Test cricket this weeke when they meet Sri Lanka in the first match of a three-Test series in Chennai on Friday. Rahul Dravid's squad, which also includes former captain Sourav Ganguly, will be confident of success, not only because they are on home soil but also because they caned Sri Lanka in the one-day series a couple of weeks ago.

bet365 have yet to release their prices but you can expect them to make India odds-on favourites to come out on top after the three matches, in Chennai, New Delhi and Kanpur and the home side have the added incentive of revenge after they were beaten 2-1 in Sri Lanka last time around, in 2001. A lot has changed since then and India, together with England, are the only side seemingly capable of living with and occasionally beating the Australians.

The fact that Sri Lanka have had a couple of weeks off since the one-day series should make them fresh but India will arguably the tighter in terms of match practice and for the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, that can only be a good thing. The great man has looked great in the nets and out in the middle only to fall short of his normal exceedingly high standard, but you have to think that the Test arena will be where he shines most. Tendulkar hasn't played a Test since March because of injury but now that he is fully fit again and now that the nerves have gone, he will be hopeful of great things.

India have won eight and lost just three Tests in 23 against Sri Lanka. They have won six and drawn five of the 11 Tests between the two sides in India, and though Sri Lanka will not struggle in the conditions like many other sides do on the subcontinent, India must be big favourites to win the series. Their batting line-up remains formidable, but their bowlers are now beginning to bowl sides out twice on a much more regular basis. The spinners are still the main destroyers but the likes of Irfan Pathan are more than decent performers.

You have to go back to 1998/1999 to find the last time India lost in Chennai, when they went down to Pakistan, but in the three Tests since then they are unbeaten and in the 23 overall, they have won 11 and lost just six. In New Delhi, their record is fairly similar, winning eight and losing just six in 27, and in Kanpur, venue for the last Test, they have won four, lost three and drawn 12 of the 19 games.

Murali v Tendulkar
Sri Lanka's master bowler Muttiah Muralitharan has already tempted fate by saying he is looking forward to the challenge of bowling to Tendulkar, above all others, but they will need him to be on top form if they are to have a chance of a first Test win, let alone the series win, on Indian soil. Murali averages 5.5 wickets per Test overall, but he has not been quite effective against India, whose top batsmen are excellent players of spin. His bowling average of 22 rises to almost 33 against India, and on Indian soil, he has managed just 15 wickets in three Tests at an average of almost 50. In his defence, the last of those five Tests was way back in 1997 and he has become the master of his craft since then.

Though they won in Zimbabwe in 2004, you have to go back to March 2002 for their last notable series win on foreign soil, when they triumphed in Pakistan. Though they have many good players, they are perhaps a team in transition, while India, who have won 10 and lost just five of their last 20 Tests, are a real force to be reckoned with.