When was the last time Sri Lanka won an ODI series against India?
Sri Lanka's horrid run of form in ODI cricket this year continued in the series opener against India. The young Indian team chased down the total in a ruthless manner and further lowered the morale of the hosts.
Dasun Shanaka and co. will be hoping for a turnaround in fortunes in the second ODI on Tuesday.
R Premadasa stadium in Colombo will host the second match of the series today. The home side will have to win this match to stay alive in the three-match series.
Avishka Fernando and Rajapaksa showed some promise in the previous game as they played some wonderful strokes before throwing away their wickets.
The Sri Lankan team management will hope that the batters shoulder more responsibility and support the bowling department in today's fixture.
Sri Lanka's last bilateral ODI series win against India came in 1997
The Sinhalese Sports Club Ground in Colombo was the venue for Sri Lanka's last series-winning match against India in 50-over cricket.
It was the third game of the three-match series during India's tour of Sri Lanka in 1997. The home team had already won the first two games and held an unassailable 2-0 lead going into this match.
Indian skipper Sachin Tendulkar won the toss and chose to field first. Abey Kuruvilla(4/43) gave India a great start by dismissing both openers Sanath Jayasuriya(3) and Marvan Atapattu(3) cheaply.
Roshan Mahanama(50) stabilized the innings by stitching an 83-run partnership with Aravinda de Silva for the third wicket.
Nilesh Kulkarni(3/71) dismissed Mahanama and Arjuna Ranatunga in quick succession to restore India's control over the proceedings.
But Aravinda de Silva(104) hit a magnificent century and took his team to a decent total with the help of Lanka de Silva(50) and other lower-order batters. Eventually, the hosts got all out for 264 with two balls to spare in the innings.
In reply, Sachin Tendulkar(39 in 32 balls) gave India a blazing start. But Sajeewa de Silva(2/48) scalped his wicket to put the brakes on India's early progress and split the opening pair after they put up 50 runs for the first wicket.
Soon Silva dismissed Sourav Ganguly(17) as well to put his team ahead in the contest. Ajay Jadeja(22), Robin Singh(28), Rahul Dravid(42), and Mohammad Azharuddin(65) tried their best, but none of them could continue until the end to finish the chase.
In the end, India could muster only 255/8 in 50 overs and fell short of the target by nine runs. Sri Lanka whitewashed India by winning the series 3-0.