The last time India went to Sri Lanka to play a test series, it was in 2001 and even that year, they were beaten by a similar score line of 2-1. That series was a disaster when India had lost the first test by 10 wickets, won the second and lost the third by an innings.

The current Team India have had its moment of glory for sometime now, apart from the Asia cup final when they were beaten by the Lankans, who had then decided to preserve their new spin weapon Mendis for the big game. But little did they know that Mendis would carry his good form into the test series as well.

With the return of the Big Three plus Laxman, it seemed alright to think that the team could put up a better show, but, shoddy performance with the bat, ball and fielding and to make things worse, the injury woes, allowed Sri Lanka to maintain its supremacy over India at home.

The batting certainly looked formidable with the Big Three, Laxman, Rohit Sharma, openers Virender Sehwag and a much improved Gautam Gambhir. Also with the team went two wicket keepers, Dinesh Karthik and Parthiv Patel.

The bowling department included new ball bowlers Zaheer Khan and Ishanth Sharma, with RP Singh and Munaf Patel less likely to serve as third seamer and the spin club consisted of Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh and Pragyan Ojha.

The series also saw the introduction of a new decision making review system, that was used on trial and which allowed the batsmen or the captain of the playing teams to challenge an on-field umpire’s decision.

1st Test Match:
Venue: Sinhalese Sports Club ground, Colombo.

Sri Lanka won the toss and chose to bat.

Sri Lanka 1st Innings total: 600-6 declared
India 1st Innings total: 223
India 2nd Innings total: 138

Sri Lanka won the match by an innings and 239 runs.
Series result 1-0 favoring Sri Lanka

Summary:
A test match which most Indians would like to forget at the earliest. India crashed to an innings and 239 runs defeat, setting a record of being the third worst defeat since its inception to test cricket in1932. The test match also saw Ajantha Mendis making his debut.

Winning the toss, Sri Lanka batted first to score 600 runs and then the Murali-Mendis spin combination demolished the Indian batting line-up twice to record an innings victory for the Lankan team. The Murali- Mendis pair had a share of 19 wickets in the match, with Murali notching up his 65th five wicket and 21st ten wicket haul. Mendis took 8 wickets in the match.

While the Lankans had four centurions, Indians could manage only a half century by VVS Laxman in their first innings. The trial based review system was officially used in the match and Shewag became the first player to be given out by the new review system.

2nd Test Match:
Venue: Galle International stadium

India won the toss and chose to bat

India 1st Innings: 329 all out
Sri Lanka 1st Innings: 292 all out
India 2nd Innings: 269 all out
Sri Lanka 2nd Innings: 136 all out

India won the match by 170 runs

Summary:
India won a rare victory and managed to increase its bean count of victories in Sri Lanka to three.
The match saw Virender Shewag scoring 201 not out, of the team’s total of 329 runs. The score would have been scary to imagine if Shewag had been out early, but, it was always good to watch Shewag on runs. Unfortunately, he couldn’t carry on as none stood long enough to support him.

Gambhir again proved himself to be an able partner to Shewag sand hsd scored a solid 56 before getting out. The middle order barring Laxman was unable to support Shewag on the other end and the team somehow managed to score 329 runs.
The Mendis menance seem to have just increased for the Indians and the young bowler took six wickets and his first 5 wicket haul, against the best players of spin bowling.

When Sri Lanka came to bat, the Indians did well to keep them at bay by dismissing them at 292 runs and taking a slender lead of 37 runs. Harbahajan came on its own and walked out with six wickets.

The Indians batted well again in its second innings with both the openers doing most of the contribution. Young Mendis scalped 4 wickets to take his tally to ten wickets, which was also his first ten wickets haul, only in his second test match.

With 306 to chase, the Lankans made a feeble attempt and were all out for 146 runs. Superb performance by Harbhajan Singh who took four wickets in the innings and an overall ten from the test.

The victory was important for the Indians to stay alive in the series and they managed to do that leaving the series wide open at 1-1.

3rd Test Match:
Venue: P Saravanamuttu Stadium, Colombo

India won the toss and chose to bat

India 1st Innings: 249 all out
Sri Lanka 1st Innings: 396 all out
India 2nd Innings: 268 all out
Sri Lanka 2nd Innings: 123 all out

Sri Lanka won the match by 8 wickets.
Sri Lanka wins the test match series.

Summary:
A rejuvenated Indian team went to play, hoping that a similar performance as in the previous test would give them a famous series victory. But Shewag went early and so did the others and the team bundled up with the score board reading 249 runs. Mendis picked his 2nd five wickets haul. Each time Mendis was given the bowl, it looked as if the bowler, the teams and the entire stadium, knew that there was another five wicket haul waiting for him. Suddenly, Muralitharan is a forgotten man and seemed to look like a part time spinner.

Sri Lanka’s batting revolved around Kumar Sangakkara’s magnificent 144 and his contribution helped the Lankans to score 396 and a lead of 147 runs.

India came to bat again with Mendis at the back of their mind. Also, was the bother of injury problems to Laxman and Sachin and the team had to arrange a minor shuffle in the batting order, which never really worked and the team lost half its side even before they crossed the first innings deficit. Cautious work by Dravid and Laxman and a little cameo by Harbhajan Singh took the score to 268 and an overall lead of 121 runs.

Chasing victory, the Lankans lost two quick wickets, but, opener Warnapura and skipper Jayawardene took them to coast and in the process also clinched the series 2-1.

The test series ended with Mendis walking away with the man of the series award for taking 26 wickets, maximum by a debut player in a three match test series.

With the test series lost, India hopes to salvage some pride by trying to win the forth coming one-day series that starts on August 18296984