India tour of Sri Lanka: Key stats, records and trivia from IND v SL series

Wellalage in elite list

0 The number of spin bowlers to claim a five-wicket haul against India on multiple occasions before Dunith Wellalage’s 5/27 in the final ODI match of the series in Premadasa on 7 August 2024. The left-arm spinner had previously claimed a five-wicket haul (5/40 also in Premadasa on 12 September 2023) against India. Overall, he now joins an elite group of six bowlers who have the distinction of claiming a five-wicket haul more than once against India. Australian pacer Brett Lee has done it on most occasions — four times.

Opponent bowlers claiming a five-wicket haul against India on multiple occasions

5-wkt hauls	Bowler	For	1st occasion	2nd occasion	3rd occasion	4th occasion
4	Brett Lee	Aus	5/27	5/38	5/27	5/58
			Adelaide, 26 Jan 2000	Kuala Lumpur, 22 Sep 2006	Brisbane, 3 Feb 2008	Sydney, 24 Feb 2008
3	Aaqib Javed	Pak	7/37	5/19	5/61
			Sharjah, 25 Jan 1991	Sharjah, 7 Apr 1995	Chennai, 21 May 1997
3	Mustafizur Rahman	Ban	5/50	6/43	5/59
			Mirpur, 18 Jan 2015	Mirpur, 21 Jun 2015	Birmingham, 2 Jul 2019
2	Merv Dillon	WI	5/51	5/52
			Toronto, 14 Sep 1999	Port of Spain, 2 Jun 2002
2	Mitchell Starc	Aus	6/43	5/53
			Melbourne, 18 Jan 2015	Visakhapatnam, 19 Mar 2023
2	Dunith Wellalage	SL	5/40	5/27
			ColomboRPS, 12 Sep 2023	ColomboRPS, 7 Aug 2024

Note: The first ODI bowler to claim a five-wicket haul against India was Kiwi Richard Collinge (5/23 in Christchurch on 21 Feb 1976), while the first spinner to do so was West Indian Viv Richards (6/41 in Delhi on 23 Oct 1989).

4 The number of occasions India’s top-order batters have been dismissed on ducks in consecutive innings. Sanju Samson recently faced this unfortunate situation in the T20I series in Sri Lanka.

Indian top-order batters dismissed without scoring in consecutive innings in T20Is

First instanceSecond instance

Batter	Runs (balls)	Opp	Venue	Date	(Bat#)	Runs (balls)	Opp	Venue	Date	(Bat#)
Ambati Rayudu	0 (1)	SA	Dharamsala	2 Oct 2015	(6)	0 (2)	SA	Cuttack	5 Oct 2015	(5)
K. L. Rahul	0 (6)	Eng	Ahmedabad	14 Mar 2021	(1)	0 (4)	Eng	Ahmedabad	16 Mar 2021	(2)
Rohit Sharma	0 (2)	Afg	Mohali	11 Jan 2024	(2)	0 (1)	Afg	Indore	14 Jan 2024	(1)
Sanju Samson	0 (1)	SL	Pallekele	28 Jul 2024	(2)	0 (4)	SL	Pallekele	30 Jul 2024	(3)

** Rohit was captain; ** Samson was the wicketkeeper in the second game; Bat# indicates position in the batting order

6 The number of occasions Team India has been involved in a tie in T20 internationals, which is by far the most by any other side in T20I history. What’s remarkable is that India has never lost a tie-breaker, whether it’s a Shoot Out or Super Over. This means India has won five tie-breakers, excluding one game where no Super Over was possible due to rain in Napier in November 2022.

India’s tied T20I games

#	Opponent	Venue	Date	Tie-breaker details
1	Pakistan	Durban	14 Sep 2007	Ind 3, Pak 0 (via a shoot out)
2	New Zealand	Hamilton	29 Jan 2020	NZ 17/0, Ind 20/0 (Won with 0 balls to spare)
3	New Zealand	Wellington	31 Jan 2020	NZ 13/1, Ind 16/1 (Won with 1 ball to spare)
4	New Zealand	Napier	22 Nov 2022	Match was tied (via DLS method)*
5	Afghanistan	Bengaluru	17 Jan 2024	Afg 16/1, Ind 16/0 (Tied Super Over)
				Ind 11/2, Afg 1/2 (2nd Super Over) won 10 runs
6	Sri Lanka	Pallekele	30 Jul 2024	SL 2/2, Ind 4/0 (won with 5 balls to spare)

* The Super Over did not take place due to rain

* In Bengaluru the initial Super Over was also tied and thus had to be taken again

239 The number of sixes hit by Rohit Sharma as a captain in international cricket. This tally is now the most hit by a captain across formats. Rohit surpassed the previous record held by England’s Eoin Morgan with 233 sixes during his 58 in the first encounter of the ODI series in Premadasa on 2 August 2024.

Most career sixes by a batter as a captain in international cricket

6s	Tests	ODIs	T20Is	Batter	For	Inns	Inns/6	Balls	Balls/6
239	21	113	105	Rohit Sharma	Ind	136	0.57	4989	20.87
233	—	147	86	Eoin Morgan	Eng	180	0.77	5633	24.18
211	51	126	34	MS Dhoni	Ind	330	1.56	14583	69.11
171	37	123	11	Ricky Ponting	Aus	376	2.19	21280	124.44
170	59	82	29	Brendon McCullum	NZ	140	0.82	5325	31.32

13 India’s unbeaten ODI series run against Sri Lanka before it was brought to a grinding halt by the host nation in the recently concluded three-match series, where the Indians lost 0-2 in the Premadasa in Colombo. It has been 26 years, 11 months, 13 days, to be exact, since Sri Lanka won a bilateral series against India. The last time it won was the home series, which ended on 24 August 1997 by a 3-0 margin. Since then, India has won the previous 10 ODI bilateral series against Sri Lanka before this defeat.

Consecutive series without defeat between two sides in ODI matches

Series	For	Against	From	To	Series result
14+	Pakistan	Zimbabwe	2 Mar 1993	3 Nov 2020	Won 13, Shared 1
13+	India	West Indies	21 Jan 2007	1 Aug 2023	Won 13
13	India	Sri Lanka	22 Dec 1997	15 Jan 2023	Won 11, Shared 2

Note:

+Unbeaten run; *Pakistan won its last 11 ODI series against Zimbabwe from October 1996 to November 2020; *India won its last 13 series against West Indies

27 The number of wickets claimed by Sri Lankan spin bowlers in the recently concluded ODI series at home against India. This is the most by spinners of any side in a bilateral men’s ODI series of four or fewer matches. The previous highest was the 26 wickets by Bangladesh spinners against New Zealand and Zimbabwe; both were in four-match series at home from October to December 2010.

Most wickets by spinners for a side in a 3-4 match bilateral ODI series

Wkts	Bowling side	Opponent	Venue	Month, Year	Series result
27	Sri Lanka	India	SL	August 2024	SL won 2-0 (3)+
26	Bangladesh	New Zealand	Ban	October 2010	Ban won 4-0 (4)
26	Bangladesh	Zimbabwe	Ban	December 2010	Ban won 3-1 (4)
21	Pakistan	Bangladesh	Ban	December 2011	Pak won 3-0 (3)
21	Hong Kong	Papua New Guinea	HKg	November 2016	HKg won 2-1 (3)

+ one match was a tie

43 The number of wickets claimed by spin bowlers from both sides in the recently concluded ODI series between host Sri Lanka and India. It is now the most claimed by spinners in a bilateral men’s ODI series of four or fewer matches. The previous highest was the 36 wickets by the Bangladesh and Pakistan bowling sides in December 2011.

Most wickets by spinners from both sides in a 3-4 match bilateral ODI series

Wkts	Home side	Visiting side	Month, Year	Series result
43	Sri Lanka (27)	India (16)	August 2024	SL won 2-0 (3)+
36	Bangladesh (15)	Pakistan (21)	December 2011	Pak won 3-0 (3)
33	Sri Lanka (14)	South Africa (19)	September 2021	SL won 2-1 (3)

+ one match was a tie

4 The number of occasions Team India has gone through an entire calendar year without a single ODI victory.

Going winless an entire calendar year in ODI cricket for India

Year	Opponent (result & Venue)	Opponent (result & Venue)	Opponent (result & Venue)
1974	Eng by 4 wkts in Leeds	Eng by 6 wkts at The Oval	—
1976	NZ by 9 wkts in Christchurch	NZ by 80 runs in Auckland	—
1979	WI by 9 wkts in Birmingham	NZ by 8 wkts in Leeds	SL by 47 runs in Manchester
2024	SL match tied in Colombo RPS	SL by 32 runs in Colombo RPS	SL by 110 runs in Colombo RPS