India in Sri Lanka: A brief Test history

NEW DELHI: Since 1985, India have played 21 Test matches in Sri Lanka, winning six, losing seven and drawing eight. Ahead of the three-Test series starting July 26 in Galle, we take a look at previous Test series between the two teams in Sri Lanka.
1985-86 - Sri Lanka won 1-0
India’s first Test series in Sri Lanka was a three-match affair that the hosts won 1-0 - their first series victory.Sri Lanka came close to taking the lead in the first Test at the SSC, beginning a chase of 123 in 11 overs by taking 17 runs off Kapil Dev’s opening over. Three wickets in eight balls forced them to change their tactics and they settled for draw when bad light forced an early finish. Moving across Colombo to the P Sara Stadium, a 149-run win in the second Test was set up by wicketkeeper-batsman Aman Silva’s 111 and Roy Dias’ 95 in the first innings, and then clinched by Rumesh Ratnayake’s 5/49 in India’s 198 all out in the fourth innings. The hosts won the series in Kandy through a superb rearguard effort from Duleep Mendis and Roy Dias that forced a draw, the stylish pair scoring centuries in a 216-run stand.
1993 - India won 1-0
India toured in the summer of 1993 and this time won their first Test series on Sri Lankan soil. After rain in the central hill area of Kandy limited the opener to the shortest Test ever played (apart from those completely abandoned), Mohammad Azharuddin’s team crushed the hosts by 235 runs at the SSC, with Vinod Kambli, Navjot Singh Sidhu and Sachin Tendulkar scoring hundreds and Anil Kumble taking eight wickets; Manoj Prabhakar was Man of the Match for six wickets and 95 in India’s second innings of 359/4. The third Test was a high-scoring draw in which Aravinda de Silva (148), Kambli (120) and Roshan Mahanama (151) scored centuries.
1997 - drawn 0-0
Four years later, a three-Test series was shared 0-0. This was the one that will always be remembered for Sanath Jayasuriya (340) and Mahanama (225) featuring in a world record partnership of 576 that set Sri Lanka up for the highest total in a Test ever - 952/6. This, after India declared at 537/8 in their first innings with Sidhu, Tendulkar and Azharuddin reaching three figures. In all, the first Test at the Premadasa saw 1489 runs scored for the loss of 14 wickets in five days on a flat surface.

The second Test at the SSC was also a draw. Five batsmen - de Silva, Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Jayasuriya - scored centuries; de Silva made two in the match.
1999 - Asian Test Championship
Sri Lanka hosted India for the second match of this experimental and short-lived championship which Pakistan won, at the SSC in February 1999. Not surprisingly, it was run-filled. Sadagoppan Ramesh and Rahul Dravid made centuries as India’s first innings swelled to 518/7, and then Sri Lanka made 485 out of which 242 were from Mahela Jayawardene’s bat. Tendulkar added an unbeaten 124 in India’s second innings, rounding out the draw.
2001 - Sri Lanka won 2-1
An engrossing series, refreshingly. In Galle, Sri Lanka hurried to a ten-wicket win inside four days thanks to good work from their bowlers, chiefly the fiery Dilhara Fernando (six wickets) and ace spinner Muttiah Muralitharan (eight). Fernando’s 5/42 helped skittle India for 187, then Javagal Srinath took five to help India pull Sri Lanka back from 171 for 1 to 362. But a lead of 175 proved more than enough for the hosts. India subsided to 180, leaving Sri Lanka to chase just six runs for victory.
Candy witnessed a superb comeback from Ganguly’s India, a seven-wicket win on the fourth day sealed by the skipper’s 98 not out. India did well to keep Sri Lanka to 274, but replied with 232; Zaheer Khan and Venkatesh Prasad shared nine wickets out of Sri Lanka’s 221 in the second innings, which mean that India needed to chase 264. That they did, with Dravid (75) helping Ganguly level the series.
Back at the SSC, Murali proved a huge threat to India’s batsmen in an innings-and-77-run win for Sri Lanka. He started off with 8/87 to bowl India out for 234 on day one, before four Sri Lankans scored centuries to put the match out of the tourist’s hands. Reeling from having let Sri Lanka put up 610/6, India made 299 with Murali taking three more wickets.
2008 - Sri Lanka won 2-1
Seven years later, India landed up in Sri Lanka and lost another captivating series in what became known as The Summer of Mendis. Unleashing on Kumble’s team the unorthodox ‘mystery spinner’ Ajantha Mendis - even though he had bamboozled them just weeks before in the Asia Cup final - Sri Lanka won the first and third Tests to extend their dominance over this opposition at home.
The formula for success at the SSC was customary: Sri Lanka piled up 600/6, with centuries to Malinda Warnapura, skipper Jayawardene, Thilan Samaraweera and Tillakaratne Dilshan. Then it was over to spin, with Mendis’ all-sorts stuff accounting for four wickets to Murali’s five. Forced to follow-on after making just 223, the visitors could only manage 138 in 45 overs - Mendis took four, Murali six. Victory by an innings and 239 runs.

After that spin-induced loss, it was expected that India’s batsmen would again struggle against Mendis in Galle, but what resulted was one of the most memorable fightbacks in modern day cricket. Leading from the front in showing that Mendis could be played, and attacked too, was Virender Sehwag with an epic unbeaten 201 out of a first innings of 329 (Mendis’ six wickets came at 4.17 an over). Then Harbhajan Singh took six wickets to keep Sri Lanka to 292, but Mendis and Murali combined to bowl India out for 269. Defending 306, India had Harbhajan and Ishant Sharma to thank as Sri Lanka crashed to 136 all out.

The stage was now set for a thrilling finale at the P Sara, but India’s batsmen again succumbed to Mendis, who this time took eight wickets in Sri Lanka’s eight-wicket win to seal the series.
2010 - drawn 1-1
Galle witnessed Murali reach the 800-wicket mark in his farewell Test, taking eight to bow out having helped Sri Lanka go 1-0 up with a ten-wicket thrashing. On a road of a pitch at the SSC, both teams settled for a draw in which 1478 runs came at the loss of just 17 wickets, leaving the decider at the P Sara for India to try and square the series scoreline. That they did in memorable manner.
Sehwag’s 109 and good work from the lower order dragged India past Sri Lanka’s 425 to a lead of 11, and then Sehwag, Amit Mishra and the rookie Pragyan Ojha took three wickets each as the hosts were limited to 267. Chasing 257, India were in trouble at 62/4 but Tendulkar (54), VVS Laxman (103*) and Suresh Raina (41*) helped them to a five-wicket win.
2015 - India won 2-1
The first full series under Virat Kohli resulted in India’s first victory over Sri Lanka in 22 years, courtesy a comeback underlined by some gritty batting and superb spin bowling. Kohli’s team lost the first Test in Galle by 63 runs - which happened to be Sangakkara’s last match - despite having dominated two-thirds of it, courtesy a stunning counter-attacking century from Dinesh Chandimal. After conceding a lead of 192, Sri Lanka had been 5/3 and then 100/5 in their second innings but Chandimal’s 162 revived the match. Set a target of 167, India collapsed, spectacularly, against Rangana Herath’s left-arm spin.

The series was levelled at the P Sara Oval, where India crushed Sri Lanka by 278 runs on the back of KL Rahul’s second Test and quality bowling from R Ashwin and Mishra. That set the stage for the decider at the SSC, where Cheteshwar Pujara’s comeback unbeaten 145 - as a makeshift opener - in the first innings proved decisive. On a tough surface, Pujara’s grit got India to 312, after which Ishant took 5/54 to secure a big lead. India’s second innings faltered at 7/3, but handy contributions down the order set Sri Lanka a mammoth 386. Ishant and Ashwin delivered victory by 117 runs, which was India’s first away from home in four years. In his sixth match in charge, Kohli joined Azharuddin as the only other captain to win a Test series in Sri Lanka.