India in One-Day Internationals in Sri Lanka

Summary of results:

Sri Lanka have a remarkable record at home soil, winning 88 out of a total of 135 matches (won percentage of 65.19). If we confine ourselves to the ODIs played in last five years (since July 2001), then Sri Lanka's performance becomes even more exemplary as is clear from the following table.

Home advantage
The following table lists the 'HOME' performances of ten ODI playing major countries in last five years. It will be observed that Sri Lanka have the second best home record. Australia hold the top slot, but Sri Lanka do have every chance to narrow this gap.

Only once Sri Lanka have failed to reach the final of a tournament played in Sri Lanka in last five years. Interestingly in all the title victories in this period Sri Lanka batted first and successfully defended their total.

Interestingly spinners played an important part in Sri Lanka's remarkable success-run at home soil in last five years as is shown in the following table:

In matches against India, the things are closer though. Pacers proved more successful but only marginally

Indian pacers and spinners have almost identical success in Sri Lanka in last five years as the following table suggests:

In matches against Sri Lanka, Indian pacers outperformed spinners both average-wise and strike-rate wise. Spinners, though, enjoyed the better economy.

Kumble's supporters may argue that the ace-spinner is in form of his life and should have been included in the 15-member squad, but figures tell a different story altogether. In last five years Kumble has taken only 52 wickets in 54 matches and that too after conceding about 42 runs for each wicket.

Kumble's performance dips even further in the matches on Sri Lankan soil where he gives away more than 46 runs for every wicket.

Who, then is the best Indian bowler in Sri Lanka by same yardstick. Surprise, surprise. It is little master Sachin Tendulkar, who averages just over 19 as against his career average of 36 in last five years - a shift of more than 17 points. Ashish Nehra, Irfan Pathan, Harbhajan, Yuvraj and Sehwag are the other bowlers who have performed better in Sri Lanka.

At the other end of the scale, Zaheer and Kumble have seen their performance dipping. Agarkar has the biggest drop, but this may be attributed to the fact that he has played only two matches in Sri Lanka in this period.

A similar comparison for the batsmen puts Kaif on the top among the ones who have performed better in Sri Lanka. Pathan's is a surprise inclusion at number two. Dravid and Yuvraj have also performed better in Sri Lanka. There is a small dip in Sehwag and Tendulkar's performances. Dhoni and Mongia are the biggest losers, but again both of them haven't played enough matches to come to a conclusion about their real worth.