11 Indian cricketers who made their Test debuts against Sri Lanka

The wait is almost over as the Men in Blue will take on Sri Lanka in a three-match Test series, which is their first visit to the island nation since August 2015.

The two-day warm-up match between India and the Sri Lankan Board President’s XI at Colombo ended in a draw with India declaring their innings at 312/9 in reply to the home team’s 187 all out.

Over nearly 35 years of India-Sri Lanka Test matches, a number of Indian cricketers have begun their career in the longest format of the sport by facing Sri Lanka. Here are 11 such Indian players.

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#11. Naman Ojha

The wicket-keeper batsman from Madhya Pradesh put up some impressive performances in IPL-3 in 2010 as a result of which, he was chosen in a second-string Indian squad to Tour Zimbabwe in a tri-series featuring Sri Lanka and two T20Is. Ojha had a disappointing outing as he scored only 1 run in the solitary ODI that he played against Sri Lanka and scored a total of 12 runs in both T20Is against Zimbabwe combined.

Five years later, Ojha was called up to the Test team as a backup keeper to Wriddhiman Saha for India’s Tour of Sri Lanka. After spending the first two Tests watching the action from the dressing room, the Madhya Pradesh ODI captain got the opportunity to make his debut in the deciding Test at Colombo instead of Saha who sustained a hamstring injury.

Ojha went on to make 21 in his maiden Test innings which was followed by a 35 in the second innings.

He took a total of four catches and a stumping during the match with the catch of skipper Angelo Matthews being his first catch in international cricket. India went on to win the match by 117 runs. Unfortunately for him, however, Ojha would never be recalled into the Indian side.

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#10. Abhimanyu Mithun

Mithun picked up four wickets on his debut

The Karnataka pacer had a brilliant Ranji season in 2009-10. He was the highest wicket-taker with 47 wickets at an average of 23.23 as Karnataka reached the final before losing to Mumbai by 6 runs. His Ranji performances earned him a call-up to the national team and he made his ODI debut against South Africa on 27th February 2010.

A few months later, Mithun made his Test debut against Sri Lanka at Galle where he bowled a spell of 4/105 with Tillakaratne Dilshan being his first wicket in international cricket. He went wicketless in the second innings as Sri Lanka won the match by 10 wickets.

Mithun played the next two Tests as well but took a total of two wickets in all four innings combined although he did score 41 and 46 in the first innings of the second and third Tests. Following this series, Abhimanyu Mithun played only one other Test match against West Indies at Barbados in 2011.

#9. Bharat Arun

The current bowling coach of India played both of his Tests against Sri Lanka

The current bowling coach of the Indian Cricket Team produced some fine performances with the Tamil Nadu Ranji Team and as a result, he was called up to the Indian team which was hosting three Tests and an ODI against Sri Lanka in 1986-87.

Arun made his debut in the first Test at Kanpur but he did not have the best of starts as he slipped and fell down while running to bowl his first delivery. However, he went on to take 3 for 76 which remains to be his best bowling figures in Test cricket.

He missed the second Test at Nagpur but came back to play the third Test at Cuttack where he took one wicket for 26 runs in the first innings and conceded 14 runs in two overs in the second innings with India winning the match by an innings and 67 runs.

Arun would not play another Test for India following this series.

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#8. Arun Lal

The former cricketer made his Test debut in the first ever Indo-Lankan Test match

The former cricketer turned commentator had a forgetful ODI debut against England where he scored only 9 but was lucky enough to make his Test debut in the first ever India-Sri Lanka Test match at Chennai in September 1982.

Lal had a much better Test debut compared to his ODI debut as he scored 63 runs with the bat, stitching a partnership of 156 with Sunil Gavaskar. This was followed by a meagre 1 in the second innings as the match ended in a draw.

He made sporadic appearances for the Test side across the next seven years, playing his final Test in 1989. Lal scored 793 runs in 13 Tests at an average of 26.03 with a 93 against West Indies at Kolkata being his highest Test score.

#7. Lalchand Rajput

The World T20 winning manager played both of his Tests against Sri Lanka

The former coach of the Indian and Afghanistan national cricket team made sporadic appearances for India from 1985-1987. Rajput had a disastrous ODI debut as he scored a duck against England followed by an unbeaten one in his second game.

He made his Test debut against Sri Lanka at Colombo in 1985 and scored 32 in his first innings followed by a well-made 61 in his second innings with the match ending in a draw. However, his second Test turned out to be a disaster as he scored a duck in the first innings followed by 12 in the second innings as Sri Lanka went on to defeat India by 149 runs.

Rajput played two more ODIs in 1987 but did not play a single Test for India ever again.

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#6. Debashish Mohanty

Mohanty did not take a single Test wicket following his debut spell of 4/78

The tall, lanky fast bowler from Orissa played 45 ODIs from 1997-2001 including the 1999 World Cup and also reached the Top 20 of the ICC ODI rankings. However, his Test career was unbelievably short despite having quite a decent debut. Mohanty made his Test debut against Sri Lanka at Colombo in 1997 which was the final Test of the two-match Test series. The first Test, where Sri Lanka posted a record of 952/6, was drawn.

Mohanty had a good start to his Test career with figures of 4/78 in the first innings. However, he went wicketless in the second innings with the match ending in a draw. Mohanty then played in the first Test of Sri Lanka’s Tour of India the same year and went wicketless in both innings at Mohali. He was then dropped from the Test team and never recalled again.

#5. Pragyan Ojha

Ojha had a decent Test debut against Sri Lanka

The spinner made quite a name for himself with his fine performances for the Deccan Chargers in IPL 2008 and 2009 whi him a call-up to the Indian ODI team for the Asia Cup.

The following year, Ojha was included in the squad for the Test series against Sri Lanka and made his Test debut in the second Test at Kanpur replacing Amit Mishra who conceded more than 200 runs in the only innings of the first Test.

The Bhubaneshwar-born player bowled a very economical spell of 2/37 from 23 overs in the first innings with his first two Test scalps being two of the biggest names in Sri Lankan cricket in Mahela Jayawardene and Muttiah Muralitharan.

Ojha went on to take another two wickets in the second innings as India won the match by an innings and 144 runs.

Pragyan Ojha went on to play for the Test team until 2013 with his last Test coming against West Indies at Mumbai which was also Sachin Tendulkar’s final international cricket match.

#4. Nayan Mongia

The wicket-keeper batsman made his Test debut against Sri Lanka

India’s wicket-keeper batsman during the mid-90s and early 2000s, Nayan Mongia had quite a decent Test career, scoring 1442 runs in 44 Tests at an average of 24.03 with a 152 against Australia at Delhi being his highest Test score. He also took a total of 107 dismissals (99 catches and 8 stumpings).

Mongia’s Test debut came against Sri Lanka in 1994 at Lucknow where he scored a 55-ball 44 in the first innings and took four catches and a stumping throughout the match as India went on to win by an innings and 119 runs.

Mongia went on to play for India regularly up till 2001 with his final Test being India’s historical win against Australia at Eden Gardens where he injured his nose and was never called back to the Indian team.

#3. Suresh Raina

Raina scored a sensational century on his Test debut

Raina made a few sporadic appearances for the Indian ODI team from 2005-2007 before becoming a regular in the ODI and T20 team from 2008 onwards. He established himself as one of India’s most reliable middle-order batsmen in the limited-overs format and in 2010, he was selected in the Test team for the Tour of Sri Lanka.

He did not play in the first Test but was chosen to play in the second Test because Yuvraj Singh was ruled out of the game owing to illness. Raina came in to bat at No.6 to join Sachin Tendulkar at the crease and he scored a brilliant 120 on his Test debut, sharing a partnership of 256 with Sachin Tendulkar as India made 707 in their first innings in reply to Sri Lanka’s 642/4.

Despite Yuvi being available for the third Test, Raina was chosen to play ahead of him. The left-handed batsman scored 62 and an unbeaten 41 in the first and second innings respectively as India went on to win the match by 5 wickets, thus levelling the series.

Raina went on to be a regular for the Test team until 2012 before being dropped from the side. However, he did play a match in 2015 against Australia at Sydney in 2015, scoring zero in both innings and hasn’t played a Test match since.

#2. Ashish Nehra

Nehra played his first international match against Sri Lanka in 1999

The tall pacer was first selected in the Indian Test team for the inaugural Asian Test Championship featuring India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. He made his Test debut in the second Test of the competition between India and Sri Lanka at Colombo.

Nehra’s first Test scalp was Marvan Atapattu but he took no wickets in the remainder of the innings with Sri Lanka wrapping up at 485 in reply to India’s 518/7. Nehra did not get a chance to bowl any more in the match as there was no second innings for Sri Lanka with the match ending in a draw.

The Delhi boy did not play another Test before 2001 against South Africa and was a regular in the Indian Test side until 2004 with his last Test coming against Pakistan at Rawalpindi where he took the wicket of Yasir Hameed. Nehra has 44 Test wickets to his name with 4/72 against Zimbabwe at Harare in 2001 being his best bowling figures in Tests.

#1. MS Dhoni

Captain Cool began his Test career against Sri Lanka

Mahi became a household name through his blistering performances against Sri Lanka in November 2005 which included his 145-ball knock of 183 at Jaipur. After a successful ODI series, Dhoni made his Test debut during the first of three Tests against Sri Lanka at Chennai.

Dhoni scored 30 on his Test debut as India scored only 167 in their first innings. However, the match would end in a draw as rain had washed out the first three days of play. Dhoni then went on to score his maiden Test fifty in the second Test at Delhi.

Captain Cool has since gone on to be one of India’s finest keeper-batsmen as well as captain in Test cricket before suddenly announcing his retirement during India’s Tour of Australia in 2014-15.