After a very long time, India finally gets to play Test Cricket, infact the last time played the longer version was back in April against New Zealand! For the record, the last Test they played at home was in December 2008 against England. That’s quite stunning to see Test Cricket take a backseat not because of the quality but solely due to the emergence of various T20 Tournaments all of a sudden.

The India-Sri Lanka Test Series which starts tomorrow is not going to lack any entertainment for sure. The Indian team has an exciting batting line-up which begins with Virender Sehwag at the top, the three experienced guns in Dravid, Tendulkar and Laxman followed by the young Yuvraj and Dhoni. Partnering Sehwag is one of India’s underrated player in Gautam Gambhir who has played a couple of great knocks against Australia and New Zealand. The Sri Lankans are exciting in their own right because of the three superb spinners in Muralitharan, Ajantha Mendis and Rangana Herath. It is a pity if one of Mendis and Herath is going to sit out in the match.

The contest between the Sri Lankan spinners and the Indian batsmen will be a mouth-watering one. The Indian bowling attack will rely on Harbhajan Singh as usual though he should be getting decent support from Amit Mishra. I expect Harbhajan Singh to take most of his wicket with the sptting top spinner that perfectly lands on the seam. Well and Zaheer Khan makes a comeback into international cricket and will most probably have Ishant Sharma as his new ball partner. As India tends to play with six batsman plus the wicket keeper batsman, the talented Sreesanth might be cooling his heels in the dressing room.

The first Test is at the Motera in Ahmedabad which traditionally takes spin. The pitch at Motera has also been on the drier side which means that the conditions are conducive for reverse swing. Motera wicket has also been traditionally slow and low as the match progresses. The Indian pace attack here scores over the Sri Lankans in this regard. Nuwan Kulasekara did superbly against Pakistan in Sri Lanka but will his swing bowling be effective against the technically sound Indian batsmen remains to be seen. Sri Lanka could also take India’s route of playing it safe by having 6 batsmen in the side.

Sri Lanka have never won a Test Match in India and their bowlers have struggled to take wickets on the generally good better batting tracks here compared to what it is back home. The pressure will be on them really to keep the heavily talented Indian batting down. At the same time, their batsmen led by Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene have to ensure that they get the big scores and not get out after getting a start.

CricketMove.com will be providing the Live Scorecard of this India Vs Sri Lanka 1st Test along with Ball by Ball Commentary.

India Test Squad : MS Dhoni (Captain and Wicket Keeper), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Sreesanth, Pragyan Ojha, Amit Mishra, Murali Vijay, S Badrinath

Sri Lanka Test Squad : Kumar Sangakkara (Captain), Tillakaratne Dilshan, Tharanga Paranawithana, Thilan Samaraweera, Mahela Jayawardene, Angelo Mathews, Thilina Kandamby, Prasanna Jayawardene (Wicket Keeper), Kaushal Silva (Wicket Keeper), Chanaka Welegedara, Muttiah Muralitharan (Vice-Captain), Thilan Thushara, Nuwan Kulasekara, Rangana Hearth, Ajantha Mendis, Dammika Prasad

Tags: India Vs Sri Lanka, Indian Cricket, Sri Lankan Cricket