It is not very often that a drawn rubber of two Tests is termed as a near disaster for one side. But from the Indian viewpoint, there is little doubt that the 1997-98 tour of Sri Lanka comes very close to such a description. Add to it the fact that India lost all three one day internationals and went down in the final of the Asia Cup and one has a fair idea of a trip, during which little went right for India.

The tour seemed to be doomed right from the start. For beginners, Sachin Tendulkar was quoted to have said that the selectors did not give him the team he wanted. Even though he denied this, the controversy did not die down. Then in the early days of the tour came a bombshell from London with Rashid Latif, the former Pakistan wicket keeper, alleging that four Indians - Navjot Sidhu, Md Azharuddin, Nayan Mongia and Venkatapathi Raju - were involved in a betting scandal. And even as the dust from this controversy had not yet settled down, coach Madan Lal came down heavily against his own side at the end of the tour with a series of personal comments that were in bad taste.

Under the circumstances, the Indians could not have been in a proper frame of mind to tackle the Sri Lankans, who only a year ago had won the World Cup and even in the Test arena had made giant strides since the 3-0 whitewash the visitors suffered in India in early 1994. But no one could have bargained for what actually happened.

In the first Test played at the Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, India won the toss on a batting paradise and hit up 537/8 declared on the second evening. Centuries by Sidhu, Tendulkar and Azharuddin were the highlights of the innings. When Sri Lanka batted, they lost Marvan Atapattu to the last delivery of the second day, bowled by debutant left arm spinner Nilesh Kulkarni, who thus became the first Indian to take a wicket with his first ball in Test cricket.

What followed thereafter was beyond belief. Sanath Jayasuriya and Roshan Mahanama batted for more than two days in adding 576 runs for the second wicket. They broke all sorts of records - not to mention the bowlers' hearts. The partnership was not broken till the morning of the fifth day when Mahanama was out for 225. Jayasuriya, who had in the meantime, become the 13th batsman to get a triple hundred in Tests advanced towards Brian Lara's record score of 375. But on 340, at the same total that Mahanama was dismissed, Jayasuriya was out. There was no respite for the exhausted Indian bowlers even after the two were back in the pavilion for Aravinda de Silva (126), Arjuna Ranatunga (86) and M Jayawardena (66) rubbed salt in their wounds and even as the match headed for a tame draw, interest was sustained as Sri Lanka finally overtook the highest total in Test cricket of 903/7 declared, notched up by England against Australia at the Oval in 1938. Sri Lanka finally ended with 952/6. The Indian bowling made for sorry reading with the three spinners Rajesh Chauhan, Anil Kumble and Kulkarni sending down 78, 72 and 70 overs to bag one wicket each for 276, 223 and 195 runs respectively.

The second Test, played at the nearby SSC ground, was also marked by high scoring, though not of the kind that one saw at the Premadasa stadium. Aravinda de Silva hit a century in each innings, giving him three consecutive three figure innings in Tests. Jayasuriya got 199 in the second innings as Sri Lanka scored 332 and 415/7 declared. India also had their share of the run feast and replied with 375 and 281/5, thanks to centuries by Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly in the first innings and Azharuddin in the second.

By now, a jaded Indian side were obviously not in the right frame of mind to take on the world champions in three ODIs. But they did go down fighting in the first game. Chasing a formidable target of 303, India got to 300 for seven thanks to centuries by Ajay Jadeja and Azharuddin who shared a record 223-run partnership for the fifth wicket. Despite a stroke filled 113 by Ganguly, India lost the second ODI tamely by seven wickets with 8.5 overs to spare. The third game was affected by rain and replayed and in this Sri Lanka emerged triumphant by nine runs to make a clean sweep of the series and a dismal tour for the Indians ended on a fitting note.

In February, 1999, India were back at the SSC, Colombo to play the Asian Test Championship game against Sri Lanka. On a placid pitch, the batsmen of both sides had a whale of a time. Put in to bat, India led off with 518/7 declared. Sadagoppan Ramesh (143) and Rahul Dravid (107) added a record 232 runs for the second wicket. Tendulkar (53), Ganguly (56) and Azharuddin (87) followed with valuable contributions. The Sri Lankan reply was sustained by a monumental 242 by Mahela Jayawardene. His career best knock lasted 677 minutes, spread over three days, and 465 balls with 30 fours and two sixes. Coming in when the first wicket fell at 18, he was last out at 485. The pitch remained a batting beauty even on the final day, emphasized by the fact that India closed at 306 for five with Tendulkar (124 not out) getting his 19th Test century. India got five points and Sri Lanka four from the game but with India having already lost to Pakistan, this was hardly sufficient and the subsequent drawn Test between Pakistan and Sri Lanka at Lahore meant that Sri Lanka edged out India for a place in the final, which was won by Pakistan.

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