When Sri Lanka's victory over India was a major upset (03 Aug 2001)

With the exalted status Sri Lanka has enjoyed in the one-day game in recent years, it sometimes is difficult to come to terms with the fact that a victory by them over India in an international competition was hailed as a major upset. But that's exactly what the result in the 1979 World Cup was. It is true that India did not have a particularly inspiring record in the tournament. In 1975, in the inaugural World Cup, they had lost to England and New Zealand and beaten only lowly East Africa. Then in 1979, they had already gone down to West Indies and New Zealand and were out of the reckoning for a semifinal spot. Still they were expected to get the better of their little neighbours who, if anything, had a worse record in the competition. In 1975, they lost all their three matches. And in 1979, they had lost to New Zealand by nine wickets while their pool game against West Indies was abandoned without a ball being bowled.

It was generally thought that India would salvage some pride by beating Sri Lanka. This feeling gained momentum when their captain and leading batsman Anura Tennekoon could not play because he had damaged a hamstring the previous day at practice. But Sri Lanka, put in to bat, posted a challenging total of 238 for five wickets in the allotted 60 overs. Owing to a late start on the Saturday, India had to wait till Monday before commencing their reply. The innings was a disaster with Dilip Vengsarkar's 36 being the top score. After an opening partnership of 60 runs between Sunil Gavaskar and Anshuman Gaekwad, wickets fell at regular intervals and India were all out for 191 in 54.1 overs. The 47-run victory was indeed a notable triumph, being the first by an associate member of the ICC in the competition.

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