3 times India beat Sri Lanka despite missing big players

The cricketing encounters with Sri Lanka have produced a number of bitter memories for Indian fans - the 1996 Wills World Cup semi-final which ended in an embarrassing home defeat for India, the 2000 Coca-Cola Trophy final in Sharjah where India were shot out for a paltry 54, and the 2008 Test series in Sri Lanka where Ajantha Mendis spun his web around the legendary Indian batters.

However, considering their overall record, India have dominated the cricket encounters between these two countries. Such has been the decline for Sri Lanka that even a second-string Indian team is expected to do well in the island nation when the teams square off later this year in July.

India’s probable XI for the limited-overs series in Sri Lanka 🤩How good is this team? 🔥#India #SriLanka #SLvIND #TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/GKpr4Zyr2N

— Sportskeeda India (@Sportskeeda) May 12, 2021

India and Sri Lanka have contested a lot of matches against one another over the last few years and there have been occasions when an Indian team devoid of its first-choice personnel has been able to do well against Sri Lanka.

Let's take a look at a few such instances.

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1. 2008: India tour of Sri Lanka, 2nd ODI

A young India took on Sri Lanka on a number of occasions in 2008, such as this CB series encounter

India were just coming off a Test series loss to Sri Lanka and were trailing 0-1 in the ODI series. This was a relatively young one-day side led by MS Dhoni. The team was missing several of its big stars such as Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag. A host of new and emerging players like Praveen Kumar, Suresh Raina, Munaf Patel, Subramaniam Badrinath and Rohit Sharma were thus given the opportunity to play. The series also featured the ODI debut of Virat Kohli.

India were still reeling from Ajantha Mendis' spell from the previous games of the tour when they took on Sri Lanka in the second game of the 5-match ODI series. With Gautam Gambhir injured for the game, India decided to field first, which worked in India's favor in every way possible.

Zaheer Khan ripped through the Sri Lankan top-order, while Praveen Kumar gave him excellent support. At 44/6, Sri Lanka looked like they would struggle to make it to even 100. However, Thilan Thushara and Nuwan Kulasekara helped the team get to 142.

An easy chase on paper, it was filled with drama as Ajantha Mendis continued to play on the minds of Indian batters. His 2/22 threatened to take the game away from India, but Virat Kohli (37) and MS Dhoni (39) ensured that India won the game by 3 wickets.

The win changed the momentum of the series and India won the ODI leg 3-2.

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2. 2010: Zimbabwe Triangular Series, 2nd ODI

Virat Kohli played another solid knock against Sri Lanka to win the game for India. (Source AFP)

India sent perhaps one of its weakest squads to Zimbabwe in 2010. Led by Suresh Raina, this tour witnessed the ODI debuts of Ravichandran Ashwin, Ashok Dinda, Naman Ojha, Pankaj Singh and Umesh Yadav. Murali Vijay and Abhimanyu Mithun, also part of the squad, had made their own ODI debuts only a few months earlier.

India's only success in the ODI tri-series came in their game against Sri Lanka, who were fielding a young side as well. India bowled first and did not allow the Sri Lankans to take advantage of the conditions early on. Ashok Dinda, Pragyan Ojha and Ravindra Jadeja picked up 2 wickets each as Sri Lanka managed to put up 242 runs on the board.

India's response was led by Virat Kohli, who scored a brilliant 82 against one of his favorite opponents (Kohli has scored 2220 ODI runs against Sri Lanka at an average of 60), and Rohit Sharma, who hit an unbeaten century. India eased to the target in 43.3 overs with 7 wickets in hand.

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3. 2013: West Indies Tri-nation series, 6th game

India needed a win to ensure a place in the finals (Source AFP)

This was a crucial game for the Indian team as they needed to win in order to ensure a spot in the finals.

Prior to the tri-series, India had just stunned the cricket world by winning the Champions Trophy with a young side. The team missed many of its regular names such as Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Harbhajan Singh, Yuvraj Singh and Zaheer Khan.

In the tri-series, India were further dented by an injury to skipper MS Dhoni. The previous game between the two sides in the Tri-series ended in a 161-run win for Sri Lanka.

In the sixth game of the series, Sri Lanka chose to bowl first on a rainy day. India got off to a scratchy start, ending with 119/3 in 29 overs. In the rain-truncated match, the Duckworth-Lewis system revised Sri Lanka's target to 178 in 26 overs.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar had made his international debut for India only a few months earlier. And in this match, he came to the party. His 4/8 spell ran through the Lankan top-order as he picked up the two key wickets of Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene. Sri Lanka lost the game by 81 runs.

On this day in 2013, it was the tri-series final against Sri Lanka at Port of Spain and India needed 15 runs to win off the last over. And MS Dhoni with no.11 Ishant at the other end, responds with 0, 6, 4, 6.Interesting that these were India's first boundaries since over 42.2. pic.twitter.com/4OhK4o1Nul

— Kausthub Gudipati (@kaustats) July 11, 2020

The victory took India to the finals, where they won a thriller of a contest with the help of their returning skipper MS Dhoni.