Batting stars give India the advantage

India begin a short limited-overs series in Sri Lanka after success in both forms of the game over the last six months. They beat England 5-0 in November 2008 and had earlier notched up an impressive 3-2 series win in Sri Lanka - and they have a much stronger side this time, with Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar both fit.

India were pretty clueless against the spin wizardry of Muttiah Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis in the Test series last year, but tackled them well in the limited-overs contest. So well, in fact, that Murali's four wickets in four matches at 43 apiece were his worst series figures at home since India toured Sri Lanka in 1997 (among series with a minimum of three ODIs). On paper, the equilibrium tilts India's way considering their consistency in the last six months.

Sri Lanka have won six of their last seven ODI series but have not been as convincing. The batting struggled against Zimbabwe and they lost a match to Bangladesh recently, and that will be a worry even though the side is boosted by emphatic back-to-back wins over Pakistan last week. There is another worry: They have traditionally frightened opponents at home but defeats to Pakistan, England and India have opened up cracks. Mahela Jayawardene will be keen to dismiss those as bugs in an otherwise remarkable record in Sri Lanka. Making the early running in a series compressed to 17 days will be essential.