Indian Oil Cup 2005

The Indian Oil Cup 2005 was a three-team cricket tournament which took place in Sri Lanka in July and August 2005, between the hosts Sri Lanka, India and West Indies. Sri Lanka were second in the ICC ODI Championship before this tournament, and fulfilled their position as favourites with an 18-run victory over India in the final. Their last ODI tournament defeat at home was a 2-3 series loss to Australia, in February 2004. India, meanwhile, continued on their disappointing run, as that side has now only won one tournament since March 2004 - a 2-1 defeat of Bangladesh, which could be seen as a disappointment as well, as the Bangladeshis had not won an ODI against a full member of the ICC, excepting Zimbabwe, since 1999. They're seventh in the ODI tables, one place ahead of the West Indies, who were in the middle of a contract dispute - meaning that they were not fielding their strongest side. However, there were a number of positive performances - the bowlers more often than not impressed, and Denesh Ramdin showed himself as a wicketkeeper for the future. However, a 7-run loss in the final match against India saw them knocked out of the final. Sri Lanka only lost one match in the tournament, a pointless fixture from their point of view against West Indies.