Australia last toured Sri Lanka way back in 2016. While the tournament feels so recent given its memorable moments, it has actually been a while on the calendar with six years going by. Back then Angelo Mathews and Steve Smith led the teams while Graham Ford was Sri Lanka’s coach. Australia had Adam Voges in the middle-order while Usman Khawaja was a poor player of spin back in those days.

The series though was magical. Like the ODI series this time, the Test series in 2016 was one that Sri Lanka wasn’t supposed to win. The team was still getting through its transition, and rather just began its transition considering how they went over the next five years. Another series loss was expected against the mighty Australians, and after Sri Lanka was bowled out for 117 in the first innings of the series their fears seemed to come through.

Following the low score though, Sri Lanka’s resurgence in the series began. Kusal Mendis at 21, and Dhananjaya De Silva on his debut stepped up and gave Sri Lanka some hope in their transition phase. Both batters finished well in the run scoring charts and are still around for this series. Another similar aspect from that series to this one is the middle-order. Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal are still around. Angelo Mathews is still contributing while Dinesh Chandimal is doing his part but still continuing to leave people wondering how high he can go with his incredible talent.

For Australia, their openers are still intact. David Warner is still doing well and comes into the series with a 99 in the ODIs. Last time around, he didn’t contribute much until making a counter-attacking fifty in the last innings of the Final Test. Mitchell Starc and Steve Smith are others who are still around. Steve Smith didn’t have an enjoyable time though last time. He was the captain and struggled as he constantly made the mistake of playing for spin. Mitchell Starc though was just brilliant. He used reverse swing well, and carried Australia with his 25 wickets.

Now though, six years on, Australia are back. Usman Khawaja, a batter who struggled in that series is now one of the best players of spin in Australia. He is finding runs in the subcontinent with centuries in Pakistan to boast. Other transformations are Pat Cummins and Nathon Lyon’s development. Last time Pat Cummins was still recovering from injury, and now he is their captain. Along with captaincy, Cummins is Australia’s strike bowler, turning up whenever Australia need a breakthrough. Then there is Nathan Lyon. Earlier in his career, Nathan Lyon struggled on turning tracks after finding spin and drift on the lesser friendly tracks in Australia. In the last few years though, Lyon has developed his ability to find threatening lengths in the subcontinent and is now a weapon on spinning tracks.

From Sri Lanka’s point of view, Dimuth Karunaratne is now their captain. In the previous series, Karunaratne was in the side but not noticed due to a run of low scores. He is now a gem for them at the top and will have a huge role to play with the pitches expected to turn from day one. The major missing piece for Sri Lanka though is Rangana Herath. Last time around, he tormented them badly and haunted Australia. Without him, the attack looks less daunting. Sri Lanka still has a decent spin battery but with less experience behind them neither look threatening.

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One aspect that has changed from that memorable series though is the competitive element. Australia are no longer an easy team to beat in the subcontinent. They have pacers who can bowl in any conditions and Nathan Lyon who is a threat anywhere. Sri Lanka are still searching for form and though they are finding wins again they still have a long way to go if they are to show up as a threatening team.