The batting challenge for India and Sri Lanka

Two World Cups have gone by since Sri Lanka and India last played a Test series, in July-August 2010. During that period, the two teams have played each other 24 times in ODIs, which brings out the skewed nature of fixtures involving these two sides. In that 2010 series, the Indian line-up included Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman, Sehwag, Gambhir and Dhoni, while Sri Lanka had Mahela Jayawardene, Samaraweera, Sangakkara, Dilshan, and Muralitharan (for one Test).

The personnel for both teams has changed significantly since then, and hardly any of the specialist batsmen who were around then are around this time. India have M Vijay who was on that tour as well, while Sri Lanka had Angelo Mathews and Kumar Sangakkara, who will be playing his farewell series this time. Both sides have been looking for replacements for batting stalwarts with mixed results, and this series will be a further opportunity for both teams to gauge how far the next generation has progressed on their Test journey.

In the last four years, both sides have had similar results in Tests. Since May 2011, both have played exactly 40 Tests, and while India have won 13 and lost 17, Sri Lanka have a 11-16 win-loss record. The batting and bowling averages in these Tests are very similar too. (Pakistan, the third big subcontinent team, have a much better Test record during this period - 17 wins, 12 defeats, for a win-loss ratio of 1.42.)

For both teams, overseas wins have been scarce, for India more so than Sri Lanka. In 25 away Tests during this period, India have a 2-15 win-loss record, with a win each in the West Indies and in England; Sri Lanka have a 4-10 record in 21 games, with wins in South Africa, England, the UAE and Bangladesh.

For India's batsmen the biggest challenge is to convert home form and runs into overseas success. Some of their key players have been far more prolific in home conditions than abroad (though that clearly isn't a problem restricted to Indian batsmen alone - check Australia's batting stats in the ongoing Ashes).

Among the current Indian batsmen, the only one who has better numbers away than at home is Ajinkya Rahane. He has played only one Test at home, but his overseas average is outstanding - 50.73, with hundreds in New Zealand, England and Australia, and a 96 in South Africa. Virat Kohli and Vijay have mostly done well too, though Kohli had a terrible tour to England.

The three batsmen who have much to prove are Shikhar Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara and Rohit Sharma. Dhawan's overseas average of 35.85 is propped up by his 173 in Bangladesh; exclude that, and his average drops to 29 from 20 innings. Pujara averages less than 32 from 24 innings, and has been a huge disappointment after the tour to South Africa - in his last 20 overseas innings his average drops to 24.15. Rohit averages marginally lesser from 17 overseas innings. All three have been prolific at home.

Sri Lanka may not be typical overseas conditions for Indian batsmen, but they haven't always found scoring to be easy here, especially since 2000. Rahul Dravid averaged 33.10 in 12 Tests here overall, and 29.87 in nine Tests since 2000. In six Tests, Sourav Ganguly averaged 23.81 since 2000, and Sachin Tendulkar 44.09.

Sri Lanka play at home, but the challenge for their batsmen will be to instill confidence that they will do alright without Sangakkara in the line-up. The first two Tests of this series will be his last, and while Sri Lanka have tried a few batsmen to try and fill that gap, none has claimed the position emphatically.

Dinesh Chandimal averages nearly 42 over his entire career, but that's a bit misleading: he averages 128.33 in four Tests against Bangladesh, and 31.28 against all other teams in 14 Tests. He has three hundreds in five innings against Bangladesh, but his highest in 26 innings against all other teams is 89. It's been nearly four years since Chandimal made his Test debut, and Sri Lanka have kept faith in him, but he now needs to convert the potential that the selectors clearly see in him, into runs, and tough runs.

Mathews has taken his game to the next level in the last couple of years and is clearly Sri Lanka's stand-out batsman apart from Sangakkara, but the others are still work-in-progress batsmen. Kaushal Silva has shown the skill and the temperament to be the old-fashioned opener who bats time and blunts the new ball, and along with Dimuth Karunaratne he has formed an opening partnership which looks extremely promising, but there are question-marks over the middle-order slots.

Like Chandimal, another young batsman in whom Sri Lanka's selectors have invested plenty of time, without suitable returns yet, is Lahiru Thirimanne: in 19 Tests he averages 25.34; excluding two Tests versus Bangladesh - against whom he averages 170 - his average against all other teams is 20.67, from 17 matches.

Through the last couple of years, the brilliance of Sangakkara and Mathews has partly camouflaged the failures of the rest of the Sri Lankan middle order; with Sangakkara retiring after two Tests, this series is as good a time as any for the rest of the batting line-up to stand up and be counted.