India would be playing Sri Lanka at home.  The Test Series starts on 20th November 2009 and ends on 6th December 2009.  The series is going to be one of the most interesting ones,  if you consider the following factors..

Sri Lankans have the advantage in bowling:- Sri Lankans have a very pretty good bowling  line up and if you compare it with Indian bowling then it is even better.  Our bowling line up his medicore if you consider the fact that our best bowler Harbhajan Singh averages 30.42 runs per wicket for his 330 wickets while  our strike bolwer Zaheer Khan averages 33.84 runs per wicket which by international stands is too high to be considered a strike bowler.  Sri Lanka has a better bowling line up than India.  In Muthiah Muralidharan who has picked up 778 wickets at an excellent average of 22.16 runs per wicket, they have a bowler who can run through a innings, but the greatest thing about the Sri Lanka is that other bowlers support Muralidharan very well.

Indian have edge in batting:- Both India and Sri Lanka boast of strong batting line ups.  Sri Lankans have two world class batsmen in Kumar Sangakkara and Jaywardene but the problem with them their support batting line up is not as good as India.  There are others like Tilakratne Dilshan and a host of good youngsters but they come nowhere close to our famed batting line up or that of Sangakkara or Jayawaredene.  India has probably the best batting line up in the world in the form of Sachin Tendulkar, Virendra Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, V V S Lakshman, Yuvraj Singh and Mahendra Singh Dhoni.  While Muthian Muralidhran can rip through most of the batting line ups in the world, against India it is very difficult considering the fact that we have one of most consistent and destructive openers in the history of game in Sehwag. With Gambhir not far behind Shewag in either consistent or aggression Muralidharan task is even more difficult.  Even the Sri Lankan bowlers get through the openers then they have to breach through the defences of Rahul Dravid and to complicite their task further is that they will have to deal with Sachin Tendulkars brilliant stroke play and if that is not enough it is impossible to breach Sachins  classically correct technique.  Adding insult to injury would be the brilliance of V V S Lakshman, Yurvraj Singh and skipper Dhoni.

The key to winning matches:- While a drawn series is the most predictable and practical result considering the might of Indian batting and equally mediocre bowling, India could still force a win in the series.  Indians do not have the bowlers to win matches, but in the past it has been noticed that Sri Lankan batsmen play lot of loose strokes  especially outside Sri Lanka and against Indian seamers and if we have good fielders in the right places then we can win the series.

Let us not rule out umpiring, because umpiring too plays its part in a country like India where umpires are under pressure from huge crowds.

Regards

Satish