India should take the lead

Bangladesh showed India that they mean business in the first Test last week and though India are the better side, they are short on confidence, which probably explains why they are not shorter than 4/11 (1.36) for victory in the second Test, which begins in Dhaka on Friday.

Now, 4/11 isn't exactly generous but you would have expected them to be shorter given that the first Test was the first time they have not beaten Bangladesh, and that result was affected badly by the weather.

This time the forecast is better and India are unlikely to take their opponents lightly, especially as they found themselves 100-6 in their second innings, declaring and then watching Bangladesh make 104-2 before the rains came.

So, with India fully focused and with Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly fresh from centuries in the first match, they are worthy favourites and will be expected to come through, especially as Anil Kumble is reportedly recovering fast from the flu which affected him in the first Test.

Tendulkar and Ganguly will no doubt be looking for more runs in Dhaka and the little maestro shares favouritism to be India's top runscorer in the first innings at 3/1, with captain Rahul Dravid.

But though Dravid is a fabulous player, you would not bet against Tendulkar coming out on top, especially as on his last visit to Dhaka, he smashed an unbeaten 248.

Dinesh Karthik is next at 9/2, the same price as Ganguly, while Wasim Jaffer is 5/1 and both VVS Laxman and Yuvraj Singh 11/2.

For Bangladesh, Mohammad Ashraful and Shahriar Nafees are joint favourites at 9/2. Rajin Saleh, Saqibul Hasan and Javed Omar are all 5/1 and Habibul Bashar is 6/1.