Singer Akai Nidahas Trophy, 1997-98

This tournament was staged in honour of the Golden Jubilee of Sri Lankan independence (nidahas in Sinhalese). India and New Zealand were the two guest teams, Australia having turned down an invitation. But local celebrations were dampened first by monsoon rains, which prevented results in two Colombo games and washed out all three in Galle, and then by the Indians.

Sri Lanka, who were less often affected by the weather in the league stage, headed the table, but lost a close-fought final to give India their fourth one-day title since Mohammad Azharuddin reclaimed the captaincy in January. New Zealand were never in the same class. They did not manage a single victory and owed all their points to washouts.

Home favourite Aravinda de Silva was named Man of the Series for his 368 runs in five innings, while Indian master Sachin Tendulkar was not far behind with 263 in four. Both scored centuries in the final, when Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly shared an opening stand of 252, a first-wicket record in all one-day internationals. Ajit Agarkar of India was the leading bowler of the tournament, with 12 wickets.

Note: Matches in this section were not first-class.