5 memorable Tests India played in Sri Lanka
The Sri Lankan line-up, especially their batting, assumes a menacing form on home soil. Many a batting records have broken when SL has played against India on these home turfs. Despite SL’s stronghold in their fortress, India has also come back strongly in more games than one, to snatch some great victories. While on one side, SL has displayed their dominance by achieving world record batting scores and often notching up daunting totals in most matches, India has also unleashed their lethal combo of bat and ball time and again to achieve some decisive wins.With the SL-India Test series about to commence in a few days, we reminisce some of the memorable Test matches played between these two sides in the island nation.
#5 2010 - A battle of the bats
The Sri Lankan batting line-up, famous for their consistency in Tests, did not fail this time too. Facing India in the second match of the 2010 Test series at Colombo, SL won the toss and naturally chose to bat.
The SL top order was at its phenomenal best, with Dilshan hitting a half century, Paranavitana hitting a century and Sangakkara hitting a double century. SL batted through almost 2 days and brought their score to a solid 642-4, aided by Jayawardene’s brilliant 174. At this point, they chose to declare, wanting to coax a result out of this match,
The usually timid Indian batting line-up when it comes to batting second, surprisingly was full of vigour in this Test. For the first time in many years, India equalled and even bettered a mammoth total posted by SL in the first innings. Sehwag’s blistering 101-ball 99 set the platform for India, upon which Tendulkar compiled a beautifully structured innings and reached the double ton mark.
Giving solid support to him at the other end was Suresh Raina, who for his part, crafted a fine century to his name. India thus batted through till the morning of the 5th day, setting up a gigantic total of 707. The run-fest continued as both teams played out a high-scoring draw.
The sheer grit of batsmen in both camps and their success as a batting unit were the highlights of the game. This was yet another run-rich entertainer on a pitch that offered little to the bowlers, that would be solely remembered for the milestones reached by the batsmen.