Before the three-Test epic against Australia, the Indian team watched Remember the Titans. The movie, about a black coach and his predominantly white team that fought and overcame racial stereotypes and prejudices, was said to have struck a chord amongst the team members as they looked forward anxiously to the biggest test they would ever face. Like Denzil Washington's Titans, Sourav Ganguly and his men would go on to scale the heights against the supposedly invincible Aussies, but for them the fight is far from over. That magnificent come-from-behind victory only strengthened a stereotype that has been in existence almost as long as cricket has been played in India. This is a team that knows how to win at home but, leaving aside an all too brief and glorious epoch in the late sixties and early seventies, cannot win abroad. They go into the opening Test against Sri Lanka with that one Damocles' sword an ever-present menace each time they look skywards. You get the feeling sometimes that the players are so acutely aware of India's abysmal record away from home-sweet-home that they freeze and fluff their lines on foreign stages. In that context, the injuries to Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman could prove an unlikely gift from the Gods. With those two in the eleven, the expectations would have been sky high. With both hors de combat, most would argue that India don't have a prayer. With some of the pressure eased off their shoulders, the Indians have nothing to lose and a series to gain. But let no one be fooled, it won't be easy. Sri Lanka have problems aplenty of their own. Sanath Jayasuriya's captaincy has been singled out for quite a bit of strafing and some of the bullets must have hit home. Last season's defeats at the hands of Pakistan and England hurt a nation that had allowed itself to be lulled into a false sense of superiority after heroics the previous year against Steve Waugh's World Cup winners. Word is out that the pitch at Galle will have more than a tinge of green. That belief is reinforced by the hosts including five quicks in the squad of sixteen. Chaminda Vaas, Dilhara Fernando, Suresh Perera and Duleep Liyanage may not intimidate in the manner of the West Indian pacemen of the past but they will certainly harass batsmen on helpful wickets. Not that patches of grass will worry the Indians too much. In Javagal Srinath, Zaheer Khan and Venkatesh Prasad, they have some fast cavalry of their own. For all the talk of green tops and bounce, this Test match will still be decided by two men with a touch of Merlin in their fingertips. Muttiah Muralitharan is the best offspinner around, perhaps better than any other practitioner of his art since Erapalli Prasanna. Harbhajan Singh is the raw but volatile talent who brought the Australians to their knees. Their face-off could decide the series, especially since the teams appear to be well matched in every other department.

Some might say that the Sri Lankans boast a better batting line-up. But as their coach Dav Whatmore would be the first to tell you, it's runs that win matches, not reputations and the hosts have let themselves down badly in that area since de Silva and Ranatunga were eased out. For the Indians, it's another opportunity to break in the colts. Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh showed glimpses of undoubted class in the one-dayers and it's now up to Hemang Badani and Mohammed Kaif to show that Test cricket is nowhere near as mystifying as Harbhajan's bowling was to the Aussies not so long ago.

Sri Lanka (from): ST Jayasuriya (captain), MS Atapattu, K Sangakkara, DPMD Jayawardene, HP Tillakaratne, RP Arnold, RS Kaluwitharana, WPUJC Vaas, CRD Fernando, M Muralitharan, ASA Perera, DA Gunawardene, MG Vandort, TT Samaraweera, DK Liyanage and PDRL Perera. India (from): SC Ganguly (captain), SS Das, R Dravid, S Ramesh, HK Badani, M Kaif, D Mongia, SS Dighe, J Srinath, H Singh, Z Khan, SV Bahutule, RL Sanghvi and BKV Prasad.

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