India's Convincing Series Victory Over Sri Lanka

Today India completed their successful campaign against Sri Lanka by winning the test series 2-0.

Score Card

Along with the 6-1 victory in the One-Day series, this constitutes a very successful campaign for India against Sri Lanka. This is a particularly important result for India as they now move into the second position in the official ICC test rankings. The following link gives a detailed analysis of this and what India should do to maintain their position.

India move up to second place

Admittedly Sri Lanka was struggling a bit, but Indias can look at this series and take lot of comfort from the performance of their team. Remember that Sri Lanka came into the ODI series as the second best in the world (as per the official ODI rankings). The whole team performed well and it was heartening to see the new combination of Dravid and Chappell getting their act together.

This series will be remembered for Sachin Tendulkar's record-breaking 35th test hundred and Anil Kumble's 100th test. But there were other, more significant outcomes in terms of the long term welfare of the Indian team.

Yuvraj Singh's maturity as a Test batsman was there for every one to see. He always possessed a special talent, and it was time he graduated to an integral part in the Indian test set up. This series ensured that.

The emergence of Dhoni as a swashbuckling wicket-keeper batsman and of Pathan as an all-rounder of immense potential must be the biggest positives coming out of this series. If they continue in similar vein, India can very realistically aspire to become, in a very methodical manner, a real force in the world cricket.

A mention also must be made of Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh. They, more than any body else, made this series win possible. And deservedly, they were named Man of the Series and Man of the match respectively. The following picture speaks volumes.

Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh

Now, of course, India will face the real test - against Pakistan in Pakistan (Jan-Feb) and against England in India (Mar-Apr). Both series should be extremely interesting. Pakistan are on a high after their convincing victory over England and should be pumped up. They would be looking for a revenge after India's victory last time they were in Pakistan. England have time to regroup and come to India with fresh ideas. So the coming three months promise to be exciting and India have a real chance to consolidate their second place in Tests and significantly improve their fifth place in ODIs.