The only countries where Sri Lanka has not won a Test match are India, South Africa and Australia. Given the very few Test matches South Africa and Australia provide the Sri Lankans and the strength of those teams are reasons why the Sri Lankans haven’t won in those Southern Hemisphere countries, but not winning a Test in India is perplexing.

India have been generous hosts as well and there have been some sensational individual performances, but not a Test win in India although Sri Lanka has been playing there since 1982.

The last time they toured India in 2005 under Marvan Atapattu’s captaincy, expectations were high, but that series was comfortably won by the hosts.

The sides this time though are evenly matched and while this should be an interesting contest, this also provides the Sri Lankans an opportunity to make their mark on Indian soil.

Kumar Sangakkara’s side has been ranked the second best team in the world not for nothing and given the way they played the recent home series against New Zealand and Pakistan, it will take some effort to beat them.

The world’s leading wicket taker Muttiah Muralitharan has indicated that next year’s home Test series against West Indies will be his last and with no other Test tours scheduled, this would, in all probability, be his last Test series away from home and he would be hundred percent focused on achieving that elusive win.

The Indians did struggle when they last played in a Test series against Ajantha Mendis, but with the recent successes they have had against him in ODIs, it would be interesting to see whether Sri Lanka still want to play him.

The pace bowling department performed exceptionally well in the last two home series and Nuwan Kulasekara and Thilan Thushara will be expected to do the hard work with the new ball and the return of Chanaka Welagedara, who impressed in his debut series two years ago, makes things even more exciting.

Sri Lanka’s strength lies in their middle order. Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene and Thilan Samaraweera all boast of Test averages of over 50 and in more recent times have been so focused that there’s been hardly any series where they haven’t scored heavily.

If any other middle order can match the Sri Lankans, it has to be the Indians, who boast of equally gifted batsmen of the calibre of Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and V.V.S. Laxman. The way the middle order of the two countries perform in the series may well decide the fate of the forthcoming series.

Tillekeratne Dilshan was an instant success as an opener against the Kiwis, smashing everything from ball one as he would do in a T-20. With no Upul Tharanga in the Test squad, you would imagine that Dilshan would continue to partner Tharanga Paranavithana in Tests as well.

There’s hardly anything Angelo Mathews has done wrong since coming into the side. His bowling has lacked penetration, but with the bat he has shown maturity and he could end up playing a decisive role in the series.