Sri Lanka vs India: Idea Cup Test Series.

The three test series between India and Sri Lanka gets underway at the SSC stadium in Colombo 23rd of July. India will be hoping to win their first test series against their neighbours in 15 years. The last time they won was way back in 1993, but at that time the Sri Lankans were just about finding their feet in international cricket.

Much has changed after that, as in Sri Lanka have gone from strength to strength, winning a world cup and then reaching the final of the last one. They also set a world record total in excess of 900 runs and that too against India. Also the world saw the rise of Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas who are very much still there and will be a huge threat to the Indian batting line up.

India in Srilanka 2008 Schedule – Player Profiles

Now in comes Ajantha Mendis who with his different grip and faster action has taken the world by storm and this will only be his true test. For the Indians have been known to play spin very well and these are not youngsters we are talking about, these are great players, vastly experienced and will play with a straight bat. Yes, India’s main strength is their batting line up and with the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman, it is only expected to be so.

But the Indians will have to do better than they did in their only practice game if they are to challenge for the honours at the end of the series. Their bowling looks in better shape and was proved so when they did quite well in the practice game, with almost all front line spinners among the wickets.

For the Sri Lankans, their bowling looks weak as they really don’t have more than three decent bowlers but then again those three will do the bulk of the bowling. Apart from that, their batting seems to be totally dependent on Jayawardene and Sangakkara, but their only advantage is that they are at home.