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South Asian Heritage Month: World Cup 1999 – India v Sri Lanka
South Asian Heritage Month runs from July 18th to August 17th each year.
SAHM seeks to commemorate, mark and celebrate South Asian cultures, histories, and communities and seeks to understand the diverse heritage and cultures that continue to link the UK with South Asia.
To mark the occasion, we will be posting articles which look back at players and matches that link Somerset with South Asia.
Today we focus on the record-breaking 1999 World Cup clash between India and Sri Lanka at the Cooper Associates County Ground.
The Cooper Associates County Ground has staged six ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup fixtures over the years, but the one that stands out was the incredible clash between India and Sri Lanka in 1999.
Ahead of the match on May 26th, both teams had lost their opening two fixtures of the competition, but had given themselves hope of qualification for the next round by winning their third match.
A packed house had gathered to see some of the finest players on the planet do battle in Taunton, and those present were not disappointed.
Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bowl first.
When Chaminda Vaas bowled Sadagoppan Ramesh with the fifth ball of the match, it looked as though Sri Lanka skipper Arjuna Ranatunga has made the correct decision by asking the opposition to bat. However, that was as good as it got for Sri Lanka.
It was at this point that Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid came together and the fireworks began.
Their partnership of 318 in 45 overs was the highest in any limited-overs international at the time, surpassing the previous record of 275 set by Mohammad Azharuddin and Ajay Jadeja against Zimbabwe in 1997-98.
Ganguly made 183 in 158 balls whilst Dravid scored 145 from 129 balls.
India’s 373 for six was their highest score in the World Cup.
Chasing 374 was always going to be a a tough task, but the Sri Lanka side was packed with batters more than capable of scoring and scoring big.
However, by the third ball of the fifth over both Sanath Jayasuriya and Romesh Kaluwitharana were back in the dressing room with only 23 runs on the board. Aravinda de Silva (56) and Ranatunga (42) gave their side hope, but double figures were only reached by four batters and Robin Singh claimed five for 31 as Sri Lanka were dismissed for 216 as India claimed victory by 157 runs.
Rahul Dravid returned to the Cooper Associates County Ground in 2018 and we caught up with him to discuss his memories of that remarkable day back in 1999.
