India dream of redemption at SL fortress

The SSC's leafy environs and its tributes to the island's cricket history in the form of honours boards, trophies and faded photographs is in many ways a decoy that hides the sturdy heart and the tough skin of the country's cricket. The club's well-heeled (and well-spoken) members, the Cinnamon Gardens set, may float around ground whispering about how things were. Out in the middle, though things have always been very different; the SSC's cricket is soaked with sweat, endurance and cussedness.

Sri Lanka have not lost a Test match here for 11 years in which they have played 14 and won seven. They have lost only six times in the ground's three decades of 38 Tests.

It is where Virat Kohli's India will try to do what Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Anil Kumble and M S Dhoni's India couldn't do over two decades of effort. To win a series against opponents who do not advertise their aggression but play with a palpable intensity and a pride that is not easily eroded.

Less than a week ago, India outplayed Sri Lanka at P Sara Oval, running through their second innings inside 44 overs. In the post-Sangakkara era, there may be a great stirring in their ranks about batting orders and worthy successors but only the foolhardy will doubt the home team's ability to resist. Particularly not here, not at the SSC. It is the ground from where Sri Lanka are rarely dislodged.

This Test also presents Kohli's ambitious, convention-shredder India with a delicious possibility of carrying through momentum and confidence from P Sara. Team director Ravi Shastri said, "We have got ourselves in a position now where if you win this Test match, you win the series which is massive"; and when asked whether this would change the team's outlook produced a friendly fusillade in response.

"Nothing changes from day one, when I spoke to you before Galle. We play for only one reason, we play to win… So there's no point being shy of going for a win. At the same time, it's not a case of being overconfident. You got to have the right balance and go and play proper cricket like we did in the last Test match over five days."

After the splash of cold water that was the Galle Test, the most reassuring part of India's response in the series was their clinical performance at P Sara from their batting first up to their wrapping up the Sri Lankans on the final day.

Kohli called his bowlers' performance on day two as the best he had seen the Indians bowl over the past few years. That remains central to the Indians' push in the final Test, an indicator that there is a growing understanding that, in a country where the batsmen are lionised, it is the bowlers who own the roar.

Shastri said the Indian bowling on day two and parts of day three at P Sara "might not have got wickets, but the discipline was there. They kept the pressure on the opposition and when wickets started falling it made a massive difference. So if they can stick to that discipline, I see a lot of promise. I can see no reason why, like they did it in the last match, they should be able to repeat it. More often than not."

It is a very valid optimism but needs to be tempered against the danger of thinking ahead. India have been in similar situations on away tours where they have gone into a series decider at level terms but were unable to turn the tide. Against South Africa in 2010-2011, the Cape Town Test went into a second innings shoot-out and India had South Africa on 98 for 5 and 130 for 6, before letting them recover to 341 on the back of a Jacques Kallis century.

Closer to home has carried more misery. The Indians will not want to be reminded of this for it will sting, but their track record of taking the giant leap in Sri Lanka is extremely gloomy. On successive visits in 2001 and 2008, they have come back after losing the first Test to equal the series but then blown it in the third.

That 2008 series is now remembered as the "DRS series." It was the first time that the referral was used and India failed to get it right. In that final decisive Test at P Sara, India won the toss, lost their top six inside 55 overs and from then on, only chased their tail. It must be remembered that Sri Lanka had some of their greatest players in both series, but then so did India.

In another year, coming to the SSC looking for wickets, never mind large-scale historical redemption, would have produced hoots of derision. Not this series though. This is an unconfirmed rumour but it is being said wild dancing broke out amongst the Indian bowlers in their dressing room on hearing the news that the wicket had been relaid.

After four draws - three of them consecutive - in five Tests between 2009 and 2012, the wickets were re-laid in mid-2013. The two Tests on it since have produced a block-out by South Africa thus leading to a draw and in Mahela Jayawardene's farewell Test that went into the fifth day, a Herath master class. Who thought bowlers could possibly be thinking about the SSC and going 'yummy'.

Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews promised a little more "carry" and quickly added a rider. "But you know, it's an SSC wicket and with this heat it's going to be a good track," Mathews said. "As of now there's a bit of grass on the wicket but it shouldn't do too much."

Shastri's own memories of the SSC belonged to the dark years. "I remember commentating a lot here with matches not getting over, first innings not getting over, till the fifth day. So please don't remind me of that. Hopefully, with the series being the way it is, we want both teams to actually play exciting cricket."

At the tail-end of a tightly-contested series, what India really wants though is a something extra after the excitement. A final flourish to remember.