India vs Sri Lanka 2009 ODI, Test & T20 Series Schedule
Sri Lanka is going to visit India on a full-fledged series comprising of 3 tests, 2 Twenty20 internationals and 5 ODI matches.Sri Lanka’s tour of India begins on 11 November with the three-day practice match against India Board President XI. Test series starting from 16 November comes after that, followed by Twenty20 internationals and ODI series. The two neighboring cricket playing countries will be looking to dominate against each other as both sides had considerable amount of success in international stage over the last few months. So, cricket fans can expect a highly exciting cricket series between India and Sri Lanka.
The fact is that the performance of both Sri Lanka and India over the last few months has been mixed. Sri Lanka failed to win the Compaq Cup at home and then could not make it to the semi final of ICC Champions Trophy 2009. However, the Sri Lankans were the losing finalists of this year’s ICC World Twenty20 and they defeated Pakistan twice in ODI series in 2009, first in Pakistan and then at home. However, the Sri Lankan team looked helpless in their 4-1 ODI series defeat at the hands of visiting Indian team this year.
Well, Indian team would look to build on their recent success over Sri Lanka. In fact, India also won last year’s ODI series in Sri Lanka. Moreover, India did not lose any bilateral ODI series in the recent past. They first defeated England at home at the end of the last year and then successfully won the ODI series in New Zealand before winning the Sri Lanka series comprehensively. India then clinched the ODI series in West Indies just before the Champions Trophy. Naturally, Indian team is expected to be full of confidence before taking on the Sri Lankan side in the ODI series. However, India’s performance in Champions Trophy 2009 and ICC World Twenty20 was frustrating as they failed to reach the semi final in the both the tournaments.
India may have won back to back ODI series over Sri Lanka in the last one year, but Sri Lanka won last year’s test series at home over India with mystery spinner Ajantha Mendis appearing as a threat for Indian batsmen who are traditionally good at spin bowling. No doubt, Mendis would play a key part in the upcoming tour too. He could be a dangerous weapon on Sri Lankan camp, given that Indian wickets help the spinners. Veteran spinner Muttiah Muralitharan also poses a threat for the Indian batsmen who did not show enough resistance over the Sri Lankan spinner in the test series last year. However, you should note that last time Sri Lanka played test series in India was in 2005 when India emerged winner 2-0 in the three match series. So, Sri Lankan players must be prepared for some tough challenge from the home side in the test series. Moreover, India’s recent performance in test cricket is pretty much satisfactory and it would boost up their confidence level ahead of the test series. India won the test series against Australia last year and then clinched the test series on New Zealand soil after many years. However, Indian batsmen must know the fact that India would face a huge challenge from the Sri Lankan spinners.
Overall, Sri Lanka’s tour of India seems to offer lots of exciting actions for the cricket lovers who always enjoy excitement during the matches; be it twenty20 or test match. Test cricket is currently facing a threat from the twenty20 format of the game in terms of popularity. No doubt, Indian cricket fans always love cricket and they have a huge fan base. Still, crowd turn out in the test series may not be very satisfactory, given the decreasing popularity of this version of the game. It may not be a major worry of concern for the TV channels and the organizers as the tour includes two Twenty20 matches as well as a three-match test series. So, TV channel and organizers can make some quick cash in through the twenty20 and ODI series in what could be a compensation for the test series.
Here, I am giving the full schedule of Sri Lanka’s tour of India 2009:
Match
Date
Competing Teams
Time
Venue
1st Test
Nov 16-20
Mon-Fri
India
vs
Sri Lanka
GMT
04:00;
Local
09:30
Sardar Patel Stadium, Motera, Ahmedabad
2nd Test
Nov 24-28
Tue-Sat
India
vs
Sri Lanka
GMT
04:00;
Local
09:30
GreenPark, Kanpur
3rd Test
Dec 2-6
Wed-Sun
India
vs
Sri Lanka
GMT
04:00;
Local
09:30
Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai
1st T20
Dec 9
India
vs
Sri Lanka
GMT
12:00;
Local
17:00
Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Jamtha, Nagpur
2nd T20
Dec 12
India
vs
Sri Lanka
GMT
12:00;
Local
17:30
Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Mohali, Chandigarh
1st ODI
Dec 15
India
vs
Sri Lanka
GMT
03:30;
Local
09:00
Madhavrao Scindia Cricket Ground, Rajkot
2nd ODI
Dec 18
India
vs
Sri Lanka
GMT
09:00;
Local
14:30
Andhra Cricket Association-Visakhapatnam District Cricket Association Stadium, Visakhapatnam
