Rahul Dravid [Images] faces his sternest challenge as captain as India go into the first Test against arch rivals Pakistan in Lahore [Images] on Friday faced with one of their biggest selection dilemmas in recent times.

• Srinath Column: Pakistan have the edge

The team management will have to take one of the toughest decisions on whether to include the experienced Sourav Ganguly [Images] or the in-form Yuvraj Singh [Images] in the team for the first Test of the high-voltage series beginning at the Gaddafi Stadium.

Having included the former captain in the squad for his experience, it will be interesting to see how the team think tank goes about the task which has the potential of leading to another uproar among cricket fans.

The Indians, seeking to repeat their 2004 series-winning performance this time also, will also have to sort out their opening combination and it remains to be seen whether Gautam Gambhir [Images] or Wasim Jaffer [Images] gets the nod to partner Virender Sehwag [Images].

Having led India to a series win against Sri Lanka [Images] at home recently, Dravid's captaincy will come under the scanner against a more formidable team like Pakistan, which is high on confidence after their win against England [Images].

Dravid's full-time reign as captain commenced against Sri Lanka with a thunderous victory in both the Test and limited over international series. But the Bangalore stalwart, as well as coach Greg Chappell [Images], know that taking on a resurgent Pakistan in their own lair in wintry conditions is a totally different proposition.

• 'India better balanced than Pakistan'

While the Indians have come here with their confidence high following good performances at home, the Pakistan team too, under the captaincy of Inzamam-ul-Haq [Images], go into the battle of nerves and skills with their tails up following their convincing triumph over a high-flying England.

Inzamam has already said that India start the series as favourites because of Pakistan's disadvantage of playing at home which has its extra burden of pressure to carry, but all this talk would be mere words when the real battle begins in the middle.

The two teams, who are meeting each other in a Test series for the third time in the last two years and are very familiar with each other's tactics, strengths and weaknesses, look more or less evenly matched.

While India seem to hold a slight edge in batting with their star-studded line-up expected to rake up big scores as it did in the 2004 series which India clinched 2-1, the home team seeks to tilt the scales towards them by having better firepower in pace attack with the highly volatile Shoaib Akhtar [Images] leading the bunch.

Akhar has been described by Inzamam as his trump card and the hosts' captain expects the Rawalpindi Express to exercise early domination on the strong Indian batting.

The key to the series would lie in the way the Indian batting line-up, which was in ominous form against the Sri Lankans at home, copes with the three-pronged Pakistan pace battery led by Akhtar in seam-friendly conditions.

Two years ago, the pyrotechnics of Virender Sehwag in the first Test at Multan, when he remained unbeaten with a double hundred at the end of the first day before going on to make an Indian record score of 309 and his triple century stand for the third wicket with his idol Sachin Tendulkar [Images] (194 not out), set up not only the first Test victory for India on Pakistan soil, but also the tone for the highly successful campaign.

Things are a bit different currently with the Indian vice-captain, who has close to a thousand runs in six Tests against his "favourite team" Pakistan, not among big runs in Test cricket though the flamboyant opener himself says he's in form but needed to convert his starts into big scores.

The Pakistanis are wary of the mayhem that the Delhi marauder can wreak on their bowling attack and coach Bob Woolmer [Images] would have worked out a strategy on how to stop this man from taking the match, and the series itself, away in the opening Test.

The opening partnership is also crucial for India and unlike their last visit, when Akash Chopra was perceived to be the solution to India's woes, the combination on the current tour is fluid.

Both the claimants to the spot, Gautam Gambhir and Wasim Jaffer, would be under tremendous pressure as the former has been out of runs while the latter is making a Test comeback after three years and this fact could be exploited by the Pakistani pacers.

The Indian middle order looks pretty strong and should the openers be able to give a good start, the rest, including skipper Rahul Dravid, who will be playing his first Test after missing his 95th consecutive one at Ahmedabad, Tendulkar and VVS Laxman, would be difficult to stop.

Yuvraj Singh is expected to logically get the remaining middle-order slot following his superb display against the Lankans which leaves former captain Ganguly out in the cold, unless there is a last minute change of heart in the tour management's thinking.

In the beleaguered former skipper's favour is the fact that he can be an effective seam-up bowler in these conditions.

Coach Chappell, who introduced the surprise element in his tactics by promoting youngsters Irfan Pathan [Images] and Mahendra Singh Dhoni [Images] up the batting order in the last series against Sri Lanka, has already indicated that the team selection would be done not on sentiments but on cricketing merit.

National selector Bhupinder Singh Senior is here to take part in the deliberations on team selection.

With both Zaheer Khan [Images] and Rudra Pratap Singh not looking particularly impressive against Pakistan A, it is a matter of conjecture who between the two would be chosen if the visitors decided to go in with three frontline pacers.

Yasir Hameed [Images] in the opening slot and the Indian new ball attack would be eager to exploit this advantage.

The home team's middle and lower order is very strong, with Inzamam, who scored 431 runs in the Test series against England, being the fulcrum. India would depend on Irfan Pathan to give the early breakthroughs as has been his practice of late.

This would allow Anil Kumble [Images] and Harbhajan Singh [Images], in case two spinners are played, to drive home a bigger wedge later on.

But the spinners have to deal with the cold conditions in which it would be a bit difficult to grip the ball, though weather has improved considerably over the last couple of days here after the near-freezing temperatures during the three-day warm-up game against Pakistan A.

The surface, that looked barren and devoid of much grass, is unlikely to crack and become powdery as is the practice in hot conditions in the sub-continent. It remains to be seen how effective Kumble, the Indian bowler with the best strike rate of 54 wickets in 9 Tests against Pakistan, can turn out to be against a set of batsmen who respect him a lot.

There has not been much visible enthusiasm in this city in the short run-up to the series since the Indian team landed here. But with the commencement of the battle in the middle there is bound to be clamour for a ringside seat at the stadium to watch an Indian team take on their own heroes for the sixth time in a home Test rubber.

Teams (from):

India: Rahul Dravid (Captain), Virender Sehwag (vice-captain), Wasim Jaffer, Gautam Gambhir, Sachin Tendulkar, V V S Laxman [Images], Yuvraj Singh, Sourav Ganguly, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Irfan Pathan, Ajit Agarkar [Images], Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Rudra Pratap Singh and Parthiv Patel.

Pakistan: Inzamam-ul-Haq (capt), Younis Khan (vice-capt), Mohammed Yousuf, Abdul Razzaq [Images], Shoaib Akhtar, Shahid Afridi [Images], Muhammad Sami, Shoaib Malik [Images], Salman Butt [Images], Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Kamran Akmal, Arshad Khan, Danish Kaneria, Imran Farhat [Images] and Muhammad Asif.

Umpires: Rudi Koertzen (South Africa) and Darrel Hair (Australia)

Match Referee: Ranjan Madugalle (Sri Lanka).