5 things India should do to win a Test series in Sri Lanka after two decades
Sri Lanka has been one of the toughest places for India to win in the last few years. The Sri Lankans, proverbial tigers at home, are very difficult to beat in their own backyard and will start as firm favourites against India in the Test series.India have enjoyed sporadic success in Test matches in the recent past and there are quite a few areas they will have to work on if they are to improve. The sight of batsmen scoring big runs to help the team post huge totals or a bowler running through oppositions has become somewhat of a rarity in the recent past.There is, however, decent competition for places in the squad which will automatically make everyone hungry to do well. India have not won a Test series on Sri Lankan soil for a decade now and Virat Kohli will certainly hope that they can do things right to turn the tide in their favour against the mighty Lankans.Let us look at the things India should try to do to win:
#1 Play 3 spinners
It is of no surprise that the Indian spinners are of utmost importance whenever India play a Test match in sub-continental conditions. Historically, spinners have had a big role to play in Sri Lanka and the Indian trio of Ashwin, Harbhajan Singh and Amit Mishra will be raring to go.
Mishra’s inclusion in the side has been talked about till now and he will be desperate to vindicate the decision. Harbhajan did a decent job in Bangladesh alongside Ashwin and though many believe that Bhajji no longer has the ability to run through oppositions, he is still quite a handful on turning tracks.
Given India's heavy reliance on their spinners to get them wickets and the spin-friendly conditions, India should look to go in with three spinners. Spinners will play a key role in the series The Indian spinners will also interestingly be inevitably up for comparison against their Sri Lankan counterparts and at the end of the day, spinners might just decide the series.
From recent times, Yasir Shah’s success for Pakistan and Imran Tahir’s success for South Africa is proof that visiting teams’ spinner can have a major role to play in Lanka.