As there has been a lot of criticism of the Sri Lankan Team’s performance in the recently concluded Test Series against India, I would like to make an objective assessment of this Test Series defeat.
It must be borne in mind that the Sri Lankan Team ranked eighth in the I.C.C. rankings was taking on the Indian Team ranked Number One. They were on top of their game in batting, bowling and fielding and had the honor of recording the following victories from 2016 to date.
Vs. New Zealand 3 – 0 in 3 match series
Vs. South Africa 3 – 0 in 3 match series
Vs. England 4 – 0 in 5 match series
Vs. Australia 2 – 1 in 4 match series
All these victories were achieved in India on spin friendly wickets, where batsmen of the caliber of Hashim Amla and A.B. de Villiers of South Africa, Alistair Cook, Joe Root and Ben Stokes of England, Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor of New Zealand, David Warner and Usman Khawaja of Australia were made to look like novices. Steven Smith was the only batsman who scored consistently against the Indian spin bowlers. Therefore it was not surprising that the less experienced Sri Lankan batsmen found it hard to tackle the Indian bowling.
The series started off on an ominous note for Sri Lanka when the appointed Captain Dinesh Chandimal was unable to take the field in the first Test match in Galle due to illness. Chandimal was the batsman who scored a brilliant 163 runs in the second innings which for Sri Lanka in Galle which enabled us to win the first Test in the previous Test series against India. Sri Lanka also lost the services of Asela Guneratne in the first session on day one in the first Test in Galle due to a fractured thumb in attempting a catch in the slips and was unable to take any further part in the match. In the recent past, Guneratne was a player who had steered Sri Lanka to victories with his batting in the longer and shorter versions of the game. He also adds to the Sri Lankan bowling attack with his ability to pick up useful wickets. His absence in the Test series did not help the Sri Lankan cause.
The pitch on which the First Test Match was played in Galle was good for batting and the Sri Lankan batsmen failed to apply themselves resulting in a 308 run victory for India in 4 days. The second Test match at the Sinhalese Sports Club saw an uncharacteristic pitch, where the ball turned and bounced from day one. As the game progressed the pitch took vicious turn and bounce and the two centuries scored by Dimuth Karunaratne and Kusal Mendis in Sri Lanka’s second innings could only be described as magnificent. Despite these efforts, Sri Lanka lost by an Innings and 53 runs with a day to spare. The third Test at Pallakelle once again offered some help to spinners and Ashwin and Kuldeep Yadav tormented the Sri Lankan batsman to record a win by an innings and 153 runs.
Sri Lanka had the misfortune of losing the toss in all three Test matches and it would have been interesting to see whether the batsmen would have fared better if they batted first when the wickets were at their best. They also would not have had score board pressure by the weight of runs scored by India in having batted first. Sri Lanka also failed to take the home advantage by preparing spin friendly pitches, when India had the superior spin bowlers. It would have been easier for the Sri Lankan team to compete against a formidable Indian side on good batting surfaces.
Sri Lanka has very talented young cricketers who will, if given encouragement and good guidance bring honor and glory to the country by their performances in the future.
