Hello Folks! Are you ready for yet another cricket article that is exclusive only on gameplantoday!
In the preview of the Sri Lanka tour of India,2022, this post is about the batsmen who had scored the most Test runs against Sri Lanka in India. Yes, India is set to take on Sri Lanka for two tests and three T20I for February and March. The first test will be played at M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru on February 25. The second test will be played at Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium, Mohali.
India vs Sri Lanka Preview
India had maintained a great record against Sri Lanka on its home Soil without losing a single game against Sri Lanka in the past 40 years. So far India had Played 20 tests against Sri Lanka in India and won 11 matches with 9 draws without losing a single game.
Out of those 11 Wins, 9 of those victories were huge. Except for two victories against Sri Lanka in 2005, all of the remaining 9 victories were Innings win.
India vs Sri Lanka in Test Year wise
- Sri Lanka Tour of India 1982 (Match Drawn)
- Sri Lanka Tour of India 1986-87 (India Won the Series 2-0)
- Sri Lanka Tour of India 1990 (India Won the series 1-0)
- Sri Lanka Tour of India 1994 (India Won the series 3-0)
- Sri Lanka Tour of India 1997 (All the three-match in the series were drawn)
- Sri Lanka Tour of India 2005 (India won the series 2-0)
- Sri Lanka Tour of India 2009 (India won the series 2-0)
- Sri Lanka Tour of India 2017 (India won the series 1-0)
Let’s peep further into the article to know about most test runs against Sri Lanka in India
1.Rahul Dravid (846 Runs in 11 innings)
The man who is ready to ready to take up any challenges for the Indian cricket team, Rahul Dravid top the list for the most number of runs for India against Sri Lanka in India.
Rahul’s first Test series against Sri Lanka in India took place in the year 1997 and Dravid showed a strong performance in the series with 3 half-centuries in 4 innings. He missed a century by mere 8 runs scoring 92 runs in the second test in Nagpur. In the 1997 Series alone Dravid scored 304 runs in just 4 innings.
In the 2005 series Dravid lead the Indian side and it wasn’t special for the Great wall as he only scored 109 runs in the series. Though India won the series 2-0, Mahela Jayawardene was the top scorer of the series with an average of 51 runs.
The 2009 series against Sri Lanka was the best for Dravid in his Career as he scored 433 runs with an average of 108.25 which includes two hundred and one half-centuries. Rahul had batted only 4 times in the series and scored two hundred followed by a half-century (74 runs) in the 3rd test at Mumbai. The leading run-scorer of the series was Virender Sehwag with 491 runs followed by Dravid’s 433 runs.
Rahul Dravid’s 846 runs were the highest Test runs of any Indian again Sri Lanka in India with an average of 76.90.
2.Sachin Tendulkar (840 Runs in 17 innings)
The man who made 100 centuries, Sachin Tendulkar’s first game against Sri Lanka was not monumental as he got out for a smaller run of 11 in the only Test at Chandigarh 1990. Ravi Shastri was the highest scorer of the match with 88 runs.
After 4 years in the very next home Test against Sri, Lanka Sachin was the highest run-scorer of the match with the knock of 142 runs with whopping 22 boundaries. Mohammed Azharuddin was the leading run-scorer of the series with 307 runs. India went on to win the series 3-0.
In the next home series against Lankans scored another century at Delhi but failed to score more runs. He scored 189 runs in 5 innings including the century as well followed by the 2009 series where he only scored 197 runs in 4 innings including the century in the 1st Test at Ahmedabad.
3.Mohammad Azharuddin (628 runs in 9 innings)
The third on the list was Mohammed Azharuddin, the wrist specialist, and the former Indian Captain. The only batsman to score 3 hundred in Consecutive matches from the debut. Azharuddin’s first match against Sri Lanka at home was a big marathon inning in which he battled for almost 505 minutes and scored 199 runs missing the double century by just one run.
The 1994 series against Sri Lanka was his best one, Azzu was the leading run-scorer of the series. He scored 307 runs in just 3 innings with an average of 102.33 commanding India to the 3-0 series Victory.
Bouns Fact
Do you Know Mohammed Azharuddin only batsman to score a century in his first match and last match.
4.Virat Kohli (610 runs in 5 innings)
King Kohli is next in gameplantoday’s list. Virat Kohli’s record against Sri Lanka is just amazing, he scored a whopping 610 runs in the 2017 series alone, pretty scary right!
Kohli’s average against Sri Lanka in India was 152.50. Kohli went for a duck in his first innings at Kolkata but came back strongly with 104* runs in the second innings.
In the very next match, Kohli scored his fifth double century at Nagpur by scoring 213 runs. Consecutively Kohli scored his sixth double century in his next match against Sri Lanka at Delhi scoring 243 runs.
Out of 5 innings against Sri Lanka in the 2017 series, Kohli scored 3 centuries and one half-century.
Bonus Fact
Virat Kohli was the only cricketer to take a wicket on the 0th ball by dismissing Kevin Peterson Who was stumped by Thala Dhoni. However the ball was the wide ball, logically the delivery was the 0th ball.
5.Navjot Singh Sidhu (554 Runs in 7 innings)
NS Sidhu who damaged every spinner in those days is the 5th batsman among the most runs scored against Sri Lanka in India. Even the greats like Muttiah Muralitharan struggled to bowl against NS Sidhu. The very first home match that NS Sidhu played against Lanka was the memorable one. He scored 124 runs in that innings at Lucknow in which he smashed 8 sixes in the innings. In the 1994 series against Sri Lanka Sidhu scored 266 runs in 3 innings 99 runs at Bengaluru Test and 43 runs at Ahmedabad Test.
The 1997 series against Sri Lanka was also a great series for NS Sidhu. He was the third Highest Run getter in the series with an average of 72 in 4 Innings. Also in the 1997 Series Sidhu scored 131 runs in the first test match of the series. Sidhu who loves to tear up spinners in every match did the same in the 1997 series as well.
Bonus Fact:
NS Sidhu batted for 673 minutes and scored 201 runs in the Second Test against West Indies at Port of Spain.673 minutes spent by NS Sidhu on the ground was one the longest innings ever by the Indian batsmen. In fact, he was the third among the Indians to spend more time on the Ground. The First one was Rahul Dravid against Pakistan in which he spend 740 minutes followed by Sunil Gavaskar’s 708 minutes against England at the Bengaluru test in 1981.
After Virat Kohli stepped down from Test Captaincy. India is set to face Sri Lanka with the new Captain Rohit Sharma for the 9th series at Home. After losing the Test Series against South Africa. India will be looking forward to bouncing back again in the home Matches. Having played 9 matches India is currently at 5 Position in World Test Championship (2021-2023) Points table with 4 wins and three losses.
