Cricket, as in the other countries in the subcontinent, is easily the most popular sport in Sri Lanka. Ceylon, as the country was known then, became a British colony 1802. The first recorded cricket match was then played in the 1830s. The first mention of the sport came in the Colombo Journal when it reported a cricket match on September 5, 1832. Soon several cricket clubs, mostly run by Europeans, were formed all around Colombo. The Colombo Cricket Club, the oldest, began playing matches from November 1832. Since then the sport has flourished all over the country, especially with the participation of the locals who took a keen interest in the British sport.
Because of its geographical position, ships from all over Europe made stopovers at the Colombo port, which meant top sides were invited to play one-day games at the various cricket grounds in the city. The Australian cricket team, led by Billy Murdoch on their way to England for the 1884 Ashes series played two games at the Galle Face in Colombo. The first match on April 1, 1884 was played against the Eighteen of Ceylon, comprising entirely of European players. Batting first the visitors were dismissed for 75, with Alick Bannerman top-scoring with 36 (the other Aussie players in the side included the three George’s – Bonnor, Palmer and Giffen as well as wicket-keeper Jack Blackham and Percy McDonnell). The home side was all out for 39 with Harry Boyle and Palmer taking eight and seven wickets respectively. On their return from the Ashes series, the Australians played another game on October 23, a match that was drawn on this occasion.
The India and Sri Lanka cricket ties also go back a long way. The Madras Cricket Club (MCC) toured the emerald islands in the winter of 1892 when the visitors, again mostly made up of Europeans, played a team from Kandy. The home side won by 121 runs and ever since then there has been regular exchanges between the two countries. In 1905/06 and 1919/20 a Ceylonese team toured Bombay and played several games against local clubs. Then during the 1932/33 season a full strength Ceylon side toured India, where they also played two unofficial Tests at Lahore and Delhi – both of which were drawn.
Sri Lanka, meanwhile, was awarded Test status in July 1981 and played their inaugural Test match against England at Colombo’s P Sara stadium in February 1982. In September that year, the Sri Lankans were invited to tour India and play a one-off Test in Chennai. Although the Test was drawn, the visitors took the honours, with Duleep Mendis scoring centuries in each innings of the match.
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However, it took India nearly three years to officially tour the island. In August-September, 1985 they played a three match Test series. On September 11, 1985 the Lankans beat India by 149 runs at the P Sara to register their first ever Test and series victory against any Test opponent. With this historic win began the start of several interesting duels between the two nations. Since then, Sri Lanka has also emerged as a major force in international cricket.
It has been five years since India & Sri Lanka last played a Test match against each other, with that being played during July-August of 2010 in Sri Lanka. Overall, India has played six bilateral series in Sri Lanka, with the home side winning three (in 1985, 2001 and 2008) and the lone series win for India coming in 1993. However, India has dominated the series at home where they have won five series out of seven played. Sri Lanka are yet to win a Test series in India.
Here, we look at how the two teams have fared against each other in Test matches from 1982 to 2010.
Head to head result summary from 1982 to 2010
