RSA Vs SL: For Asian Countries, playing a red ball series in South Africa is a big challenge. The Asian teams like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka have found it tough to win Test matches in the Proteas Nation, mainly because the batters haven’t stepped up in those seam-friendly conditions.
Even a power-packed team like India has failed to win a red ball series in South Africa. The team under Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Rohit Sharma have drawn the Test series in that country. Mahi Bhai achieved this feat in the 2010/2011 tour while HITMAN Sharma achieved the feat of levelling of the series in the Proteas Nation during India’s last tour of South Africa in 2023.
Here Is The Only Asian Country Who Has Won A Red Ball Series And Also Scripted A History In The Proteas Nation – Today, in this segment, we shall reveal the name of that sub-continent nation for our readers, followers and viewers of Report Bharat and Since Independence.
RSA Vs SL: Sri Lanka Is The Only Asian Side To Win A Test Match Series In South Africa –Â
The Test Matches are the pinnacle form of the game in cricket and the overseas series also hold the utmost importance. There have been very few teams who haven’t won an overseas series in the red ball format despite being the strong contenders and a good team when the matches are played at their hometurf.
Sri Lanka is a team that hasn’t tasted much of a success in the red ball format at home or away Test series. The Lankans have managed to win just two Test series and drawn one series at home against The Aussies. Those two wins at home came in 1999 and 2016. But they have not won a single series Down Under.
England also holds the upper hand versus Sri Lanka in the red ball series. Sri Lanka has won just one series of the red ball format in England and that lone win had come in 1998. Before that, in 1984, the red ball series between these two nations had ended in a draw. Both these series were a one-off red ball game played by Sri Lanka in England.
However, one can’t take their achievement of Sri Lanka in South Africa away because Sri Lanka is still the only Asian side to register a win in a Test Match series on the Proteas Soil. In 2019, the team of Sri Lanka under Dimuth Karunaratne won the two-test match series by a margin of two nil. Faf Du Plessis was the skipper of South Africa in the series between RSA Vs SL.
RSA Vs SL: The Highest Run Scorer And Wicket Taker Of Sri Lanka In Their Historic Series Win In South Africa –Â
1.   Kusal Perera –
The wicketkeeper-batsman of Sri Lanka, Kusal Perera was the top run-getter for Sri Lanka in that series which the Lankans won in 2019. In two matches and three innings, Kusal scored 224 runs with a highest average of 112, and a strike rate of 71.34. Perera was the only batter to amass a century in that two-match red ball series and he also scored one half-century as well.
He had even smashed 22 boundaries his tally of seven sixes was the most in that series. Kusal’s unbeaten knock of 153 runs in the first red ball match at Durban was also the highest individual score of that red ball series, which allowed him to win the player of the match award as well.
1.   Vishwa Fernando –Â
After the batters, the seam and the pace bowlers hold the key to success in South Africa because the pitches in the Proteas Nation do not support spin. The left-arm pace bowler of the Sri Lankan side, Vishwa Fernando was the highest wicket-taker in that series in 2019. He took 12 scalps from just two matches and four innings with an average of 18.92, a strike rate of 31.25, an economy rate of 3.63 and he took two four-wicket hauls to his name.
Also Read: IND Vs RSA: When Did The Proteas Play A Test Match Series In India?
