How the two teams stack up in a finely balanced series

THE TEAMOPENERS: India have Sachin and Sehwag, capable of savaging any attack. But Sehwag hasn’t been in form and Sachin hasn’t be...

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THE TEAM

OPENERS: India have Sachin and Sehwag, capable of savaging any attack. But Sehwag hasn’t been in form and Sachin hasn’t been in the team. Lanka have a steady opening partnership in Atapattu and Jayasuriya but the latter is also under an injury cloud

MIDDLE ORDER: Without Kaif, Dravid may get very lonely in the Indian middle order. Yuvraj is in form has never been comfortable against spinners, especially Murali. That puts the pressure on the youngsters, especially Venugopal.

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Sri Lanka have Jayawardene, Sangakkara, Dilshan, Arnold, Chandana, Samaraweera. And they don’t have a tail. End of contest

ALL-ROUNDERS: Sri Lanka have the edge in quality and quantity: Jayasuriya, Dilshan, Arnold, Chandana, Samaraweera, five men equally good in both departments. And they are ‘spinning all-rounders’, suited to sub-continental wickets. India’s JP Yadav, Agarkar and Irfan are fast-bowling allrounders, Sehwag and Yuvraj are part-timers

SPINNERS: Lanka have Muralitharan. India have a good record against him but Chandana, Dilshan, Samaraweera can turn the ball square in good conditions. Harbhajan has a lot to prove, especially to counter his bad form and satisfy Chappell.

FAST BOWLERS: Two left-arm seamers in each side, though Lankans have come in with an extra specialist seamer. In Vaas and Zoysa they have good new ball bowlers, backed up with Maharoof and the hustling pace of Fernando. India need Pathan and Agarkar to combine their experience to offset the rookie Sree Santh and RP Singh

MATCH CONDITIONS

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DURATION: Atapattu admits they’ve not played such a long ODI series before; India have played six, most recently against Pakistan. But they haven’t had much success, unable to maintain the tempo.

PITCHES: Most are likely to be flat and batsman-friendly so it’s even stevens on this count

WEATHER: Again not much to separate the two. Chilly conditions up north may suit India, though, especially day-night match at Mohali

CROWD: India’s hostile, pressure-cooker concrete-bowl stadiums are very different to the grounds in Lanka, where brass bands make it almost Caribbeanesque

THE COACHES

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HISTORY: Chappell struck the first blow when he pipped Moody to become India coach but Moody levelled the score soon enough by winning the tri-series at home — and winning all the matches against India.

PREPARATIONS: Moody comes into this series in a better position. Forget the results — India beat Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka beat Bangladesh — and dwell on the long conditioning camp in Lanka.

TEAM VIBES: Moody’s settled side has long been a unified team. Chappell has had to deal with ugly spats that would have sent most other coaches packing

CAPTAIN CONNECT: Moody likes to go on long walks with Atapattu, bonding over team strategy. Chappell has walked away from one captain and, though he has a high opinion of the incumbent, hasn’t spent much time with him

— G.S. VIVEK