Venue Profiles: Galle International Stadium, Galle
13 years ago, when a deadly tsunami claimed a thousand lives across Sri Lanka and parts of southern India, one of its victims was a gorgeous, historic venue located in the southwestern coastal city of Galle in Sri Lanka. The Galle International Stadium, formerly known as The Esplanade, sits charmingly amidst the centuries-old Galle Fort, bordered by the vast Indian Ocean on two sides.
Destroyed by the ruthless disaster, the ground underwent severe repair to restore it to the highly admirable standards it maintained before the catastrophe struck in December 2004. Regarded as the fortress of the Sri Lankan cricket team, the venue has hosted umpteen memorable encounters post its renovation three years after the tragedy.
History
Constructed in 1876, Galle hosted its maiden international fixture in 1998, when the touring New Zealand side faced Sri Lanka in a Test. Only a few weeks later, it got the opportunity to stage its first ODI, with India being the visitors on that occasion.
Historically, the pitch at Galle has assisted spinners, with first the magical Muttiah Muralitharan and then the equally skillful Rangana Herath ruling over opponents with their accurate spin-bowling.
The extremely competent Muralitharan, who finished with a record 800 Test wickets, bagged his final scalp at Galle, against India in 2010, while the wily Herath eclipsed his former New Zealand counterpart Daniel Vettori to become the most successful left-arm spinner in the history of Test cricket when he claimed 6/59 against Bangladesh in 2017.
Usually the ground used to kick-start tours over the years, Galle missed out on that in 2016 when Australia commenced their visit with the first Test at Pallekele – a local festival robbed Galle of the rights to host the opening Test.
However, normalcy will be restored once India begin their campaign at this stadium with the first Test starting on July 26.
India’s record at the venue
India, having played four Tests at Galle previously, have been defeated thrice, winning just once, against Sri Lanka. In India's first outing there, in 2001, the bowling pair of Dilhara Fernando and Muttiah Muralitharan combined along with centurions Sanath Jayasuriya and Kumar Sangakkara to hand India a thrashing; in 2008, India hit back courtesy of an epic unbeaten 201 by Virender Sehwag and 10 wickets in the match by Harbhajan Singh, to win by 170 runs.
Also read: India vs Sri Lanka Tests: 5 highest run-scorers
Two years later, in Muralitharan’s final Test, Tharanga Paranavitana, Sangakkara and Muralitharan himself ensured India were thumped by 10 wickets; and in 2015, Dinesh Chandimal broke Indian hearts by counter-attacking from a position of despair to smash 162 as he and Herath, who picked up 7/48 in the second innings, trumped India to help Sri Lanka come from behind and win by 63 runs.
Overall record - P4 W1 L3 D0
Highest Individual Scores
The highest individual score at the Galle International Stadium remains Chris Gayle’s whopping 333 against Sri Lanka in 2010. In no mood to spare the bowlers on that day, Gayle blasted 34 fours and nine sixes en-route to his career-best score against a below-par Sri Lankan bowling line-up missing the services of Muralitharan, Herath and Chaminda Vaas. Gayle stitched together stands of 110, 196 and 167 with Adrian Barath, Darren Bravo and Brendon Nash respectively before eventually falling in the 159th over of the West Indies innings, having batted for 10 hours and 53 minutes. In the process, he became only the fourth batsman in Test history to smack two triple hundreds, joining greats like Sir Don Bradman, his former teammate Brian Lara and the swashbuckling Virender Sehwag on the list.
Highest individual scores at Galle:
Chris Gayle vs Sri Lanka, 2010 - 333 (437)
Mahela Jayawardene vs South Africa, 2004 - 237 (415)
Kumar Sangakkara vs Pakistan, 2014 - 221 (425)
Mahela Jayawardene vs England, 2007 - 213* (411)
Marvan Atapattu vs England, 2001 - 201* (536)
Best Spells
The most iconic spell by a bowler at Galle is the tireless effort put in by Muralitharan against England in 2003. Muralitharan bagged 7/46 in the first innings to skittle the visitors for 235, however, Sri Lanka fell just a wicket short of wrapping up a memorable victory on the final day. England collapsed from 143/3 as Muralitharan ran through the middle-order in a sensational display of spin bowling which deservedly earned him the Man of the Match award. The spin wizard finished with a match haul of 11/93, picking up another four in the second innings. Besides bagging wickets, Muralitharan remained extremely economical over the course of more than 68 overs in the game, with an economy of under 1.50 in both innings.
Also read: Top 5 wicket-takers in Tests between India and Sri Lanka
Best spells at Galle:
Muttiah Muralitharan (SL) vs England, 2003 - 7-46
Rangana Herath vs India, 2015 - 7-48
Yasir Shah vs Sri Lanka, 2015 - 7-76
Muttiah Muralitharan vs South Africa, 2000 - 7-84
Rangana Herath vs New Zealand, 2012 - 6-43
Other Records
Other records at the historic Galle International Stadium include a partnership of 267 between the talented Bangladesh pair of Mohammad Ashraful and Mushfiqur Rahim against Sri Lanka in 2013, which remains the highest at the ground.
Muralitharan, across 15 Tests at Galle, snaffled a record 111 wickets at 18.50, followed by Rangana Herath, who has 93 in 16 Tests. The modern batting great Mahela Jayawardene tallied 2,382 runs at 70.05 at this ground, including seven centuries and 12 half-centuries.
Surprisingly, the two highest Test match totals at the venue were both accomplished by visiting teams against Sri Lanka – 638 and 600/8, by Bangladesh and Pakistan, in 2013 and 2000 respectively. Sri Lanka come next with 590/9 against West Indies in 2001.