While Sri Lanka showed its batting strength on their home pitches, India did likewise on their own pitches.
For Sri Lanka to come through a Test series in India, unscathed was in itself an achievement, considering the fact that in the previous two three-Test series played there, Sri Lanka were beaten 2-0 (1 drawn) in 1986-87 and 3-0 in 1993-94. As in Pakistan, winning under Indian conditions and pitches are the most difficult for any touring side.
In the first and the third Tests where play was possible on all five days, India held the upperhand, but were unable to force a win. They were foiled in their attempts at Mohali by the heroics of the Sri Lanka vice-captain Aravinda de Silva and the determined batting of Kumara Dharmasena. At Mumbai, rain forced the game to end in a draw with 12 overs remaining and Sri Lanka down to 166 for 7 chasing 333 for victory.
India could consider themselves unlucky on both counts to be deprived of a possible win. But having said that, one must also mention that India in India are virtually unbeatable. With the home support and conditions (and on this occasion, some glaring umpiring decisions), India in the past have always found ways and means of beating the opposition.
Why they have failed on this occasion could mean either they no longer have the bowlers to deliver the goods, even in their own conditions, or that Sri Lanka's batting has matured over a period of time, that they no longer can be simply brushed aside like in the past.
The return of fast bowler Javagal Srinath was looked up with much anticipation that he could lift the morale of India's battered bowling line up, after they were mauled in the two-Test series in Sri Lanka.
Although Srinath bowled well within himself and inspired young hopeful like Abey Kuruvila, the effort was insufficient to wade through the powerful Sri Lankan batting.
Although off-spinner Rajesh Chauhan sowed seeds of doubt in the Sri Lankan batsmen's minds, senior spinner Anil Kumble showed that he had still not recovered from the battering he suffered at the hands of Sanath Jayasuriya and Co. in Sri Lanka, when he averaged 46.50 for his six wickets.
The plus points for Sri Lanka in the series was the emergence of Marvan Atapattu as a Test class batsman and Ravindra Pushpakumara proving once again, that given the opportunity, he could become a good strike bowler.
Playing with the sword of Damocles hanging over his head for so long, Atapattu finally broke the shackles to record his maiden Test century at the venue he made his Test debut seven years ago - Mohali and, came within two runs of scoring a second hundred at Mumbai. Currently, he is the most technically equipped batsman in the Sri Lankan side. Now that he has lifted the mental block from scoring five 'ducks' in his first six Test innings, Atapattu can look forward to a long and cherished Test future.
As he proved in the Caribbean six months ago, Pushpakumara rose to the occasion to become the leading fast bowler in the series, picking up his third five-wicket in an innings haul of his career on a placid Nagpur pitch.
One of the most disturbing factors concerning the Sri Lankan bowling is the form of ace fast bowler Chaminda Vaas. The left-armer who began his Test career on a high note, is suddenly struggling to maintain the status of key strike bowler of his team.
The Vaas of today is a far cry from what he was last year. In the two back-to-back series with India consisting of five Tests, Vaas has captured only eight wickets for 483 runs at a cost of 60.37 runs per wicket.
One could attribute his decline in form to either not being 100 percent fit or to an alteration of his bowling action. For, since he pulled out of the West Indies tour from a back injury, Vaas has not been the bowler he was. It is quite a serious matter, and should be handled properly by those accountable, lest we lose the services of an excellent strike bowler, who has brought Test victories for us abroad in New Zealand and in Pakistan.
In Saurav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid India have two young cricketers to take them well into the next century. Left-hander Ganguly missed out on making three consecutive Test centuries and emulating team mate and former captain Mohammad Azharuddin's feat against England in 1984-85, when he was dismissed for 99 in the second Test at Nagpur.
Ganguly's batting coupled with the contributions made by Dravid, who thrice missed out on a century and the improvement of Kuruvila as a bowler, were India's plus points along with the batting of Navjot Sidhu and skipper Sachin Tendulkar, who saved the Indian selectors the embarassment of having to replace him by scoring a timely century at his home venue in Mumbai.