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Sri Lanka wrapped up the series 2-1 after winning the first Test by 10 wickets and losing the second Test by 7 wickets.
In the past, India has dominated the Tests between the two nations. Before this series Sri Lanka had won only one Test from twenty starts against India with 12 draws.
The win gives Sri Lanka their highest ever Test rating of 984 rating points. This beats their previous best rating of 982 points set in March 2000.
Sri Lanka remains in eighth place in the Test Cricket Ratings Service ratings. They have now narrowed the gap to seventh placed New Zealand to only eight points.
India's touring misery continued in this series. Their last win away from home was in the one-off Test against debutants Bangladesh in November 2000. Their last victory in a series away from home was their 1-0 defeat of Sri Lanka on their last three Test tour to the island nation in 1993.
The highlight of coming back from the dead to defeat Australia in March this year is now a distant memory for India. Faced with the need to make another big innings to save the third Test, India was unable to repeat the feats of earlier in the year and was dismissed for 299 runs.
The Indian performance in this series lends further support to the theory that their heroics against Australia were a one-off result. Since that time they have drawn a series in Zimbabwe and now lost to Sri Lanka. Both of these nations hold a lower rating than India.
India has lost 11 ratings points as a result of their loss to Sri Lanka. The new Indian rating of 1014 points is back down to the level that it was for the 12-month period before they defeated Australia. India remains in sixth place in the ratings and the margin between India and fifth placed West Indies has widened to 19 ratings points.
India was without the services of Tendulkar and Laxman in the series against Sri Lanka. However, there remains significant batting talent in the team with Dravid, Ganguly, Das and Ramesh. However, the Indian batsmen were unable to cope with Muralitharan.
The more significant aspect was the failure of Harbhajan Singh, dubbed 'The Turbanator' after destroying Australia in March, to perform during this series. Singh finished the series with 4 wickets costing an average of 58.8 runs while Muralitharan took 23 wickets for an average of 19.3.
During the deciding Test the lack of a form bowler left the Indians with no answer in the field while Sri Lanka compiled an innings of 610 runs with four centurions. Eventually, Ganguly just set fields for containment and waited for the declaration.
The result of this series may also have sealed the fate of veteran Sri Lankan batsman Aravinda de Silva. De Silva was not selected for the squad and their impressive batting display in the first and third Tests may signify the end of his distinguished Test career.
The latest Test cricket ratings are: 1 Australia (1205); 2 South Africa (1155); 3 England (1059); 3 Pakistan (1058); 5 West Indies (1044); 6 India (1020); 7 New Zealand (1001); 8 Sri Lanka (993); 9 Zimbabwe (932); 10 Bangladesh (835 - provisional).
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