I would say that Pak starts off as being a favorite. The first reason is that the team has had a baptism by fire in Australia. True, the series was a washout as far as results are concerned for the young Pak team, but one has to look at the end of the series encounters to see that the team has indeed started to compete on an even footing with the strongest team in the world. It is worth noting that the Aussie one-day side did not lose to the Windies and has not come close to losing to New Zealand in the series right after the VB series. That Pak was able to beat them in a crucial encounter and then run them close in the two finals, points to the Pak team coming together as a unit and becoming competitive. This generally does not augur well for any opponent, given the amount of talent that any Pak team normally has.
That said, these matches were one-dayers and too much cannot be read into how the Pak batting will cope with the 5 day version of the game. Imran Khan and so many other commentators have rightly pointed out the fact that it is upto the Pak batting if the team has to win in India. However, given the fact that the batting will surely enjoy the lack of pace and bounce that the Indian pitches lack grossly, I do think that the Australian experience will surely stand the Pakistanis in good stead.
On the other hand, it is the Indian batting that has a worried look to it. Lately, Tendulkar, Laxman and Ganguly have been hugely inconsistent, with the result that the load has had to be carried by Sehwag and Dravid. Indeed, if these two fail, the batting takes on a very fragile look. There is no Parthiv Patel to add the cushion at the end. It is sad that India continues to persist with out of form batsmen when it has so much batting talent waiting in the wings. The fact that Kaif and Yuvraj have to contend for an extra spot on the team is a sad commentary on the selectors especially when the test batting is not really firing.
Shoaib Akhtar's presence will be felt by pak, despite all the brave utterances from all Pakistanis. Without him the Pak team does not have anyone who can run through the Indian batting. That probably is something that the Indian batting must be really happy about. I hope that translates into confidence and not over-confidence. In the past, this has meant that India has made bowling stars out of people who have not done anything of note in the past and in the future after running through Indian sides in India. Examples like Azim Hafeez, Pat Pocock, Neil Foster, Greg Matthews abound in Indian crickets historical folklore.
