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Will Sri Lanka's 35-year wait end?

November 16, 2017 07:25 IST

The Sri Lankans have played 17 Tests in India in 35 years, but failed to win a single one.

Dinesh Chandimal

IMAGE: Sri Lanka Captain Dinesh Chandimal. Photograph: PTI

Sri Lanka will aim to create history by winning their first Test and series in India when the islanders take on the hosts in a three match series starting in Kolkata on Thursday.

Dinesh Chandimal's side have their task cut against Team India who have won their last eight Test series, including a 3-0 whitewash in Sri Lanka in July-August this year.

 

The Sri Lankans have played 17 Tests in India in 35 years, but failed to win a single one, while losing 10 and seven ended in draws.

India and Sri Lanka have played each other in 16 series, with the former winning on eight occasions. Sri Lanka have three series wins.

When it comes to team totals, there is no beating the mammoth 952/6 which Sri Lanka amassed in Colombo in 1997, courtesy Sanath Jayasuriya's triple hundred and Roshan Mahanama's double century. The duo put on 576 runs for the second wicket, but the game ended in a dull draw.

For India, their best is 726/9 declared in 2009-2010 made memorable by Virender Sehwag's blazing 293 from 254 balls at the Brabourne stadium in Mumbai.

Among the batsmen, Jayasuriya holds the record for the highest score for his 340 in Colombo and the most runs in a series with a tally of 521.

Sehwag's 491 is the best by an Indian batsman against the Lankans.

In the bowling department, spin legend Muttiah Muralitharan leads the wicket-taking charts with 105 wickets from 22 Tests. Anil Kumble is India's top wicket-taker with 74 wickets from 18 games.

Rajneesh Gupta presents a complete view of the Tests between the two teams:

India-Sri Lanka Test series:

SeasonHostCaptainsTestsIndiaSri LankaDrawnWon
    India Sri Lanka          
1982-1983 India Sunil Gavaskar Bandula Warnapura 1 0 0 1 Drawn
1985 Sri Lanka Kapil Dev Duleep Mendis 3 0 1 2 Sri Lanka
1986-1987 India Kapil Dev Duleep Mendis 3 2 0 1 India
1990-1991 India Mohammed Azharuddin Arjuna Ranatunga 1 1 0 0 India
1993 Sri Lanka Mohammed Azharuddin Arjun Ranatunga 3 1 0 2 India
1993-1994 India Mohammed Azharuddin Arjuna Ranatunga 3 3 0 0 India
1997 Sri Lanka Sachin Tendulkar Arjuna Ranatunga 2 0 0 2 Drawn
1997-1998 India Sachin Tendulkar Arjuna Ranatunga 3 0 0 3 Drawn
1998-1999+ Sri Lanka Mohammed Azharuddin Arjuna Ranatunga 1 0 0 1 Drawn
2001 Sri Lanka Sourav Ganguly Sanath Jayasuriya 3 1 2 0 Sri Lanka
2005-2006~ India Rahul Dravid Marvan Atapattu 3 2 0 1 India
2008 Sri Lanka Anil Kumble Mahela Jayawardene 3 1 2 0 Sri Lanka
2009-10 India M S Dhoni Kumar Sangakkara 3 2 0 1 India
2010 Sri Lanka M S Dhoni Kumar Sangakkara 3 1 1 1 Drawn
2015 Sri Lanka Virat Kohli Angelo Mathews 3 2 1 0 India
2017 Sri Lanka Virat Kohli Rangana Herath# 3 3 0 0 India

+ played as part of the Asian Test Championship
~Virender Sehwag captained in the third Test
# Dinesh Chandimal captained in the last two Tests.

Head to Head:

 TestsIndiaSri LankaDrawn
in India 17 10 0 7
in Sri Lanka 24 9 7 8
TOTAL 41 19 7 15

Summary of series results:

 SeriesIndiaSri LankaDrawn
in India 7 5 0 2
in Sri Lanka 9 3 3 3
TOTAL 16 8 3  

Highest team totals

TotalForVenueSeason
952/6d Sri Lanka Colombo RPS 1997
760/7d Sri Lanka Ahmedabad 2009-2010
726/9d India Mumbai Brabourne Stadium 2009-2010
707 India Colombo SSC 2010
676/7 India Kanpur 1986-1987
642 India Kanpur 2009-2010
642/4d Sri Lanka Colombo SSC 2010
622/9d India Colombo SSC 2017
610/6d Sri Lanka Colombo SSC 2001
600/6d Sri Lanka Colombo SSC 2008
600 India Galle 2017

Lowest team totals:

TotalForVenueSeason
82 Sri Lanka Chandigarh 1990-1991
112 India Galle 2015
119 Sri Lanka Ahmedabad 1993-1994
134 Sri Lanka Colombo PSS 2015
135 Sri Lanka Pallekele 2017
136 Sri Lanka Galle 2008
138 India Colombo SSC 2008
141 Sri Lanka Nagpur 1986-1987
142 Sri Lanka Cuttack 1986-1987

Individual Hundreds:

India: 59. In Sri Lanka: 32. In India: 27

Sri Lanka: 46. In Sri Lanka: 37. In India: 9

Highest Individual Innings:

RunsBatsmanVenueSeason
340 Sanath Jayasuriya Colombo RPS 1997
293 Virender Sehwag Mumbai Brabourne Stadium 2009-2010
275 Mahela Jayawardene Ahmedabad 2009-2010
242 Mahela Jayawardene Colombo SSC 1998-1999
225 Rohan Mahanama Colombo RPS 1997
219 Kumar Sangakkara Colombo SSC 2010
203 Sachin Tendulkar Colombo SSC 2010
201* Virender Sehwag Galle 2008
199 Mohammed Azharuddin Kanpur 1986-1987
199 Sanath Jayasuriya Colombo SSC 1997

Most runs in a series:

 SeriesinTestsRunsHighest ScoreAvg100s50s
Sanath Jayasuriya 1997 Sri Lanka 2 571 340 190.33 2 0
Virender Sehwag 2009-2010 India 3 491 293 122.75 2 1
Kumar Sangakkara 2010 Sri Lanka 3 467 219 116.75 2 1
Rahul Dravid 2009-2010 Ind 3 433 177 108.25 2 1
Aravinda de Silva 1997 Sri Lanka 2 392 146 130.67 3 0
Sourav Ganguly 1997 Ind 3 392 173 98.00 2 1
Sachin Tendulkar 2010 Sri Lanka 3 390 203 78.00 1 2
Dilip Vengsarkar 1986-1987 India 3 376 166 125.33 2 1
Mahela Jayawardene 2009-2010 India 3 373 275 74.60 1 0

Leading run-scorers in India-Sri Lanka Tests:

 MtsRunsHighest ScoreAverage100500
Sachin Tendulkar 25 1,995 203 60.45 9 6 0
Mahela Jayawardene 18 1,822 275 67.48 6 8 1
Rahul Dravid 20 1,508 177 48.64 3 9 0
Kumar Sangakkara 17 1,352 219 52.00 5 2 0
Aravinda de Silva 19 1,252 148 41.73 5 3 0
Virender Sehwag 11 1,239 293 72.88 5 3 2
Mohammed Azharuddin 17 1,215 199 55.22 5 4 2
Sourav Ganguly 14 1,064 173 46.26 3 4 2
Sanath Jayasuriya 10 938 340 67.00 3 2 1
Navjot Sidhu 11 935 131 71.92 4 3 0
Roshan Mahanama 12 924 225 46.20 2 2 1
V V S Laxman 13 900 104 47.36 2 8 1

5 wicket innings hauls:

India: 23. In India: 13. In Sri Lanka: 10

Sri Lanka: 25. In India: 7. In Sri Lanka: 18

10 wicket match hauls

India: 7. In India: 5. In Sri Lanka: 2

Sri Lanka: 3. In India: 0. In Sri Lanka: 3

Best bowling figures (innings):

FiguresBowlerVenueSeason
8/87 M Muralitharan Colombo SSC 2001
7/48 Rangana Herath Galle 2015
7/51 Maninder Singh Nagpur 1986-1987
7/59 Anil Kumble Lucknow 1993-1994
7/62 Harbhajan Singh Ahmedabad 2005-2006
7/100 M Muralitharan Delhi 2005-2006
6/12 Venkatapathy Raju Chandigarh 1990-1991
6/26 M Muralitharan Colombo SSC 2008
6/46 Ravinchandran Ashwin Galle 2015
6/72 Anil Kumble Delhi 2005-2006
6/85 Rumesh Ratnayake Colombo SSC 1985
6/87 Venkatapathy Raju Ahmedabad 1993-1994
6/102 Harbhajan Singh Galle 2008
6/117 Ajantha Mendis Galle 2008

Best bowling figures (match):

FiguresBowlerVenueSeason
11-110 M Muralitharan (SL) Colombo SSC 2008
11-125 SLV Raju (Ind) Ahmedabad 1993-94
11-128 A Kumble (Ind) Lucknow 1993-94
11-196 M Muralitharan (SL) Colombo SSC 2001
10-107 Maninder Singh (Ind) Nagpur 1986-87
10-141 Harbhajan Singh (Ind) Ahmedabad 2005-06
10-153 Harbhajan Singh (Ind) Galle 2008
10-157 A Kumble (Ind) Delhi 2005-06
10-160 R Ashwin (Ind) Galle 2015
10-209 BAW Mendis (SL) Galle 2008

  Most wickets in a series:

 SeriesinTestsWicketsBestAverage5I10M
Ajantha Mendis 2008 Sri Lanka 3 26 6/117 18.38 2 1
M Muralitharan 2001 Sri Lanka 3 23 8/87 19.30 2 1
Ravichandran Ashwin 2015 Sri Lanka 3 21 6/46 18.10 2 1
M Muralitharan 2008 Sri Lanka 3 21 6/26 22.24 2 1
Anil Kumble 2005-06 India 3 20 6/72 18.70 2 1
Rumesh Ratnayake 1985-86 Sri Lanka 3 20 6/85 22.95 2 0

Leading wicket-takers in India-Sri Lanka Tests:

 TestsWicketsBestAverage5I10M
M Muralitharan 22 105 8/87 32.61 7 2
Anil Kumble 18 74 7/59 31.20 4 2
Harbhajan Singh 16 53 7/62 39.77 2 2
Kapil Dev 14 45 5/110 26.55 1 0
Ravichandran Ashwin 6 38 6/46 21.58 3 1
Ajantha Mendis 6 34 6/117 29.00 2 1
Rangana Herath 9 32 7/48 45.97 2 0
Chamanda Vaas 14 30 4/20 44.76 0 0
Zaheer Khan 9 28 5/72 38.71 1 0
Ishant Sharma 10 28 5/54 38.64 1 0
Venkatapathy Raju 5 26 6/12 14.84 3 1
Rumesh Ratnayake 6 26 6/85 29.07 2 0

Rajneesh Gupta