India has been the biggest supporter of Sri Lankan cricket stretching back to over five decades. The proposal to accept Sri Lanka as a full member of the International Cricket Council was jointly submitted by India and Pakistan in 1960s only to be vetoed by either Australia or England.
The Asian bid to promote Sri Lanka eventually succeeded in 1981 when Mr. Gamini Dissanayake with the backing of Indian stalwarts like S.K. Wankhede, M.A. Chidambaram and N.K.P. Salve put through a successful bid. Pakistan’s Abudl Hafeez Kardar too played a key role. This time Australia voted in favour of the bill. England though snobbishly abstained from voting.
Over the years, Australia and England have significantly lost their clout and India have taken control of the game. The younger generation who hate the power that India wields in ICC board rooms are hardly aware of the hardships the Asian nations went through when the big boys enjoyed veto power.
Taking the World Cup away from England in 1987 was a major success for the Asian bloc. Mr. Jagmohan Dalmiya is a key figure in helping India to go on to become a strong force in governing cricket having taken the ICC out of Lord’s to Dubai.
It has to be mentioned here that India on several occasions have bailed out Sri Lanka when faced with financial constraints by sending their team to play series out of FTP.
Tours by the Indian teams bring in the much-needed revenue to keep the game healthy. In the last 20 years, India has travelled to Sri Lanka to play white ball series than to any other cricket nation.
There’s been intense rivalry as well between the nations. In sports, there’s no better feeling than to overcome the bigger brother and Sri Lankan fans take pleasure in seeing their team performing well against India.
The 1979 World Cup was a key moment in Sri Lanka’s road to gain Test status. At Old Trafford, in a game that stretched to three days due to rain rule, Bandula Warnapura’s side beat a strong Indian outfit that had many stars and this was a big statement that the world could no longer turn a blind eye to.
Beating India at the game’s biggest stage sealed the deal for the island as less than two years later, Sri Lanka were granted full membership of the ICC.
Being a Test nation, one of the first tours that Sri Lanka undertook was to India. Madras hosted the one-off Test where Warnapura’s side gave the Indians a mighty scare again. The game ended in a draw and it’s known for Duleep Mendis’ hundreds in each innings.
Sadly, for 20 years now Sri Lanka have not played in Madras. This is due to then Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalitha Jayaram banning Sri Lanka from playing in her state. At that time, even Sri Lankan players had to skip IPL that were played in Madras. Thankfully, the situation has now improved and hopefully the team will soon start playing in south India.
Sri Lanka’s maiden Test win also came against India in 1985 at P, Sara Oval. It was a keenly contested series with the fast bowlers of the host nation having a major impact. The umpiring came in for heavy criticism with Indian captain Kapil Dev commenting that Sri Lanka will never win a Test match overseas.
While the 1980s was Sri Lanka’s years of grooming, by the next decade the team had come of age and gave India a run for their money.
The 1996 World Cup was a highlight with Sri Lanka beating India twice in their backyard. Opposition teams struggled to come to terms with Sri Lanka’s ploy of going hard during field restrictions and by the time they made up their minds on what to be done to curb the run flow the World Cup was over.
Bringing on foreign coaches, emphasizing a lot on fitness and fielding paid rich dividends for Sri Lankan cricket and India were left behind.
Soon after the World Cup, the following year Sri Lanka posted a World Record 952 for six declared and Sanath Jayasuriya nearly broke Brian Lara’s record for most runs in an innings. Such was Sri Lanka’s dominance, India’s captain Sachin Tendulkar conceded, ‘I haven’t seen Bradman, but I have seen Sanath Jayasuriya.’
After the Jayasuriya era was over came, Ajantha Mendis causing severe headaches to Indian batters. His figures of six for 13 in the Asia Cup final caused severe self-doubt among batters and when India came for a three match Test series in 2008 he made a massive impact claiming a rich haul of wickets as Sri Lanka won the series.
Despite all the highs, Sri Lanka are yet to win a Test match in India though. The day that happens it will be a proud moment for Sri Lankan cricket.
