Sweet for Sri Lanka at Sara

Quiz question Which Asian country achieved their firstever Test match victory on the same ground they played their inaugural Test on Answer Sri LankaOn this day 40 years ago the islanders led by Duleep Mendis beat India by 149 runs to notch up their maiden Test win at Colomborsquos P Sara Oval their debut ground of 1982 The Sri Lankans got to their first win after 13 previous Tests which included eight losses four to New Zealand two to Pakistan one each to England and AustraliaIt was not the best of times for India in Test cricket They hadnrsquot won a Test since beating England at Mumbai in December 1984 The tour party in Sri Lanka for the threematch Test series was led by Kapil Dev taking over from Sunil Gavaskar who decided not to lead India after the World Championship of Cricket in Australia earlier in the year In fact Indiarsquos winless Test streak only ended in England the following yearIndia flew to Sri Lanka in accomplished writer Ayaz Memonrsquos words on ldquowings of hoperdquo Memon who covered the tour for midday and Sportsweek magazine wrote ldquoTheir Sri Lankarsquos batting is quite strong with Mendis Roy Dias Sidath Wettimuny Amal Silva Ranjan Madugalle and Arjuna Ranatunga both exciting and experienced players Their bowling does appear a little thin based as it is on medium pace But they are capable of springing a surprise or twordquo Gavaskar batted in the middleorder while debutant Lalchand Rajput and K Srikkanth opened the innings in the first and second Test When Gavaskar was asked by Sportsweekrsquos News Editor Javed Akhtar in a pretour interview as to whether he would open the innings on the Sri Lanka tour the late journalist got a surprising reply ldquoI think you are asking this question to the wrong person As far as Irsquom concerned I will open doors windows shops seminars and of course bottlesrdquoThe first Test was held at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo where India were bowled out for 218 after winning the toss Spearhead Ashantha de Mel sent back five Indian batsmen while fellow seamers Rumesh Ratnayake and Saliya Ahangama accounted for two each Gavaskar was run out for 51 Sri Lanka replied with 347 powered by 103 from Ranjan Madugalle and 111 by RanatungaRajput got a maiden half century in Indiarsquos second innings and Vengsarkar ran out of partners for an imperious 98 not out Set to score 123 for victory the hosts ended the Test with 614 Victory would have been theirs had it not been for a session lost on Day Five due to rainThe second Test began in two daysrsquo time This time the hosts won the toss and unlike their opponents in the previous Test thrived first up Their batting heroes turned out to be centurymaking opener Amal Silva onedrop Madugalle 54 Roy Dias 95 and Mendis 51 It was lefthanded opener Silvarsquos second hundred in three Tests The wicketkeeper lit up Lordrsquos the previous year with a century in Sri Lankarsquos second innings at cricketrsquos then headquarters despite enduring crampsThe three Sri Lankan medium pacers were at it again mdash this time Ratnayake bagging 476 as India folded up for 244 Young Aravinda de Silva 75 and Dias 60 not out put on 132 for the third wicket as India were given a target of 348 After Kapilrsquos 78 the next best efforts from the Indians were 25 each by Srikkanth and Mohammed Azharuddin Ratnayake got five helping to bowl out India for 198Kapil believed India could win to get the series score line on even keel After India ended Day Four at 160 the captain told Sportsworld magazinersquos Mudar Patherya ldquoWe are going to win this match okay You wait come and see me tomorrow then tell merdquo Unfortunately for the visitors their captainrsquos optimism didnrsquot eventuate in holding back the feisty Sri Lankans A lunch time score of 633 got worse Umpiring decisions that sent back Srikkanth 25 and Vengsarkar 0 were dubious and the captain spoke about them as well as Sadanand Vishwanathrsquos mdash leg before to Ahangama for a duck Kapil was the last man to depart caught and bowled by a diving Ratnayake ldquoTheir greatest day in sportrdquo wrote Patherya pointing out that the hosts beat a side that had a cumulative experience of 367 Tests as against Sri Lankarsquos 86The third and final Test at Kandy was drawn and hence Sri Lanka won their inaugural home series against India 10 For Ranatunga who would lead Sri Lanka to their 1996 World Cup triumph 11 years later this series was pivotal to his growth In an interview to prominent Sri Lankan journalist Rex Clementine Ranatunga revealed ldquoOne of the most cherished moments of my career was getting the wicket of Sunil Gavaskar in the second Test He was stumped Irsquom told very rarely he was stumped in his career He was one of my cricket heroes It was a closely contested series and at one point I sledged him I liked getting under the skin of the opponents He wasnrsquot offended In fact at the end of the series he took me to our board chairman Mr Gamini Dissanayake and told him lsquoLook after this boy Hersquos going to change the fortunes of your cricketrsquo rdquoGavaskar was right And those Sri Lankans involved in that 198586 series against India will suffer no memory lapses about the September 611 win at their Ovalmiddayrsquos Deputy Editor Clayton Murzellois a purist with an open stanceHe tweets ClaytonMurzello Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper