If punters are struggling to separate England and South Africa, they will have an even tougher task in picking a winner out of Sri Lanka and India. They are just as evenly matched, with the slight second favourites enjoying home advantage in both contests.

That there is a winner in the forthcoming three match Test series is not guaranteed. Bat seems to be dominating ball everywhere at the moment and this trend should be even more apparent in Sri Lanka, as there are plenty of players on both sides capable of cashing in on the batsmen friendly wickets.

Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara and Virender Sehwag have all made double or triple centuries in recent matches and punters will favour the draw if any of these form players drop anchor.

Seven of the previous 12 Tests played between these two in Sri Lanka have ended as stalemates and the last matches played at Colombo SSC and Galle, the venues for the opening two matches, ended as high-scoring draws.

However, there is no shortage of bowling talent on show. Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas maintain their places in the top 10 of the world rankings and India’s left arm new ball pair of Zaheer Khan and RP Singh showed skill and variation in unfamiliar conditions in England last year. They will need to adapt again to prosper in the tough Sri Lankan environment.

The bowler under most scrutiny will be Ajantha Mendis. The mystery spinner announced himself at the recent Asia cup, where he claimed 17 wickets, including figures of six for 13 from eight overs against India in the final.

The Indians had no answer to his array of off breaks, leg spinners, googlies and arm balls, although the latest Sri Lankan spin master will find it harder to dominate in the Test arena where players are under less pressure to attack him.

The spin duel between Muralitharan and Mendis and Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble could be the key battle in the series.

Kumble didn’t feature in the last series between the two in Sri Lanka, a 1-1 draw in 2001. Murali took 23 wickets to Harbhajan’s four and a similar return this time around would surely give the hosts victory.