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Even though I say it myself, I am usually the life a soul of parties and celebrations. But today I find myself in the role of party pooper!

Sri Lanka deservedly celebrated the most emphatic of victories in Colombo and were especially excited by the performance of their spin twins Murali and Mendis.

They made a star studded Indian batting line-up look like village cricketers on their way to an innings and 238 runs win. As a result they can be forgiven for now raising their expectations to new levels and will be ultra confident of repeating the feat in this 2nd Test at Galle .

The big question is are those expectations realistic, are those expectations likely to bear fruit.

As a cricket lover, I too celebrate the emergence onto the scene of the exciting new talent that is Ajuntha Mendis. I also celebrate the positive, refreshing brand of cricket that Sri Lanka play.

Having celebrated all that, I now feel obliged to stop the party and look at those expectations for this Test and gauge if they are justified. Can Sri Lanka put in a repeat performance? Will the spin twins again destroy India ? Will this renowned Indian batting lineup again be humbled?

This is Galle and not Colombo . The ground here was devastated after the tragic Tsunami in 2005. But miraculously it has been rebuilt and looks a picture.

The new pitch has only seen one test so far. That was Sri Lanka v England last year. A match that was severely rain effected with only the equivalent of just over 3 days play.

Sri Lanka declared their first innings at 499-8, then proceeded to skittle out England for 81, but then saw England bat out 95 overs to save the draw reasonably comfortably.

The key stats from that game were that it was dominated not by spin, but by the pacers. Of the 18 first innings wickets, Murali and Panesar only took 1 wicket between them and Murali only took 4 wickets in the whole match.

At Colombo, Murali and Mendis took 19 of the 20 Indian wickets to fall. Galle is no Colombo, there will be more help for the pacers here.

One tiny consolation for India at Colombo was that their pacers Ishant Sharma and Zaheer Khan easily outperformed the Sri Lankan pair of Vaas and Kulasekara.

So my first dampener on expectations is to say that this time, on a pitch that will aid spin a bit less and pace a bit more, I cannot see Sri Lanka posting another massive first innings total. Sharma and Khan will be a different proposition on this pitch and I again expect them to outperform Vaas and co.

They say a week is a long time in politics, well a week can be an eternity in cricket too. Let's look at how India have responded to woeful performances early in recent series.

Last year in the first test against England at Lords, India were totally outplayed and only scraped a draw thanks to the weather. They gave themselves a kick up the backside after that performance and came back to dominate and win that series.

They then went onto Australia, and again put in a dismal performance in the first test and lost by a massive 337 runs. They gave themselves a kick up the backside after that performance and came back to match Australia for the rest of the series, including winning at the WACA of all places.

Then, a few months ago, India were embarrassed by South Africa at Ahmedabad losing by an innings and 90 runs. They gave themselves a kick up the backside after that performance and came back to win the next test at Kanpur in emphatic style by 8 wickets.

So my next dampener on Sri Lankan expectations is simply to say that recent history shows that India, after kicking themselves up the backside for a woeful display, do tend to comeback in style.

This is the rainy and monsoon season in Sri Lanka. Not the best time to play cricket and though time was lost on the first day at Colombo, the next 3 days escaped the expected rainfall.

Again there are weather concerns for this test, and this time I fear we may not be so lucky and we could lose a lot more time then in Colombo .

So my final dampener on Sri Lankan expectations is the mother of all dampers, the rain. I think it would be prudent in this test to keep the draw onside as when it rains in Sri Lanka, It's not just a frustrating drizzle, but a full blown storm.

Ok so what's the bet?

As I said above, the draw must be kept onside and so I recommend a saver bet on that draw.

If somehow the rain stays away and there is a result in the game, then on this pitch I cannot see India again skittled out cheaply. On this pitch, I cannot see India again facing a massive first innings deficit. On this pitch I cannot see Ishant Sharma and Zaheer Khan not being more effective. On this less spinner friendly pitch I cannot see this Indian batting lineup again fail so miserably against Murali and Mendis.

As I mentioned above, the general pattern in last few series is that India usually follow up a woeful effort with an exceptionally good effort and anyone that kept the faith with them would have been generously rewarded.

I am going to keep faith with them. They have proven, experienced players that have amazing overall records, especially against spin and I am confident that this faith could again be generously rewarded.

My suggested bets on this match therefore are:

BACK India for 2 points @ 6.4 on Betfair

BACK the Draw for 3 points @ 1.83 at Boylesports