Sri Lankans arrive in India and hope to change appalling test record

The Sri Lankan cricket captain, Kumar Sangakkara, realises that their record in test matches in India is as poor as it could get and hence would like to change that in the forthcoming series that his team plays against hosts India. In the last 27 years, the Lankans have played 14 test matches so far, but have yet to win a single game. Their best series result came in the 1997-98 series when they managed to snatch a 0-0 draw against the Sachin Tendulkar-led India.

Last time around, the Lankans had begun well in a rain-hit test match between the two teams, but then had gone on to lose the remaining two games to lose the series 2-0. To add to their misery, the losses were 188 runs and 259 runs large, which meant that the Sri Lankans had been thoroughly outplayed in the series.

Sri Lanka will play three test matches, two T20Is and five ODIs in a tour that lasts for more than a month and a half. They open their campaign with a tour game against the Board President's XI at Mumbai and will follow that up with three test matches at Ahmedabad, Kanpur and Mumbai. The Mumbai game will be played at the Brabourne stadium as the Wankhede stadium is currently under renovation.

Sri Lanka has yet to win a single game in Australia and South Africa, apart from India, and Sangakkara has said that he understands that and will look to change the record. He also added, "We are here to relax, enjoy and not worry about history, and try and put as much pressure on the Indians as possible."

Sangakkara made a pertinent point when he said that the Indians do not like to be pressurised and their loss against the Aussies in the ongoing ODI series will mean that they will be under a lot of pressure to defend their record. This will be the one place that the Sri Lanka will be able to take advantage. The Lankans have also brought an inexperienced bowling attack, but Sangakkara brushed off those suggestions by saying, "Inexperience is sometimes a good thing as the Indian batsmen have not played our fast bowlers regularly in the longer form of the game which can work to our advantage."

Unfortunately, even the great Muralitharan averages more than 40 in India and that will be the one thing that the off-spinner would love to change about his record. Ajantha Mendis and Rangana Herath will be the other two spinners in the side.