Big picture: India’s 600th, Galle’s 50th
The last time India toured Sri Lanka for Tests they were bang in the middle of a golden era and ended up making the hosts look ordinary. A lot has changed since then, including the frequency and the length of Test series between two teams that always made for close contests in Sri Lanka.
To that great Indian team that toured in 2017, Sri Lanka was more home than India. The pitches offered more bounce and consistent turn, allowing the Indian spinners to dominate and outbowl the hosts despite the presence of Rangana Herath.
It is only because India have lost two of their last three home series that they don’t start as overwhelming favourites in a country that they have won each of their last five Tests.
While India are in transition, Sri Lanka are almost in Test exile. India having played only one Test so far this year is an aberration, Sri Lanka playing only two in the last 13 months has become a bit of a rule. In the last eight years, they have played only two series longer than two Tests.
So it is hard to know what to expect of these two sides. Sri Lanka will be desperate to put together two spinners who can ask questions from both ends, India will be desperate to bounce back from the series losses against South Africa and New Zealand in similar spin-friendly conditions.
Sri Lanka’s chance, you would believe, lies in winning the toss and getting runs on the board before the ball starts doing more for the spinners as it often does in Sri Lanka. In Pathum Nissanka’s absence, Dhananjaya de Silva, Kamindu Mendis and Dinesh Chandimal might have to do the heavy lifting. India’s batters will want to avoid being caught on the hop as they adjust to the conditions in the first Test.
What we can expect for sure is landmarks. India will become the third team to have played 600 Tests when they take the field in Galle, which will become the first Asian ground to have hosted 50 Tests.
Form guide
Sri Lanka DLWDL(last five completed matches, most recent first)
India WLLWW
In the spotlight: Ravindra Jadeja and Prabath Jayasuriya
Ravindra Jadeja is one of the two players in the India squad to have played before in Sri Lanka. He is also the leader of the attack now that R Ashwin has retired, Mohammed Shami is considered not fit enough for Tests and Jasprit Bumrah is injured and not available for this series. This is not the spotlight that Jadeja has ever sought. He prefers to quietly wheel in over after over. Now, at 37, kept in cotton wool during shorter formats so that India can extract all they can from his Test cricket, Jadeja will have to set the tone in Sri Lanka.
Prabath Jayasuriya is one player Sri Lanka can’t afford to be out of form. You can’t imagine Sri Lanka winning a Test or the series without Jayasuriya, their leading wicket-taker this decade, bowling out of his skin. He has 11 five-fors and two ten-fors in 14 home Tests, but the average of 27.26 is acceptable, not great. He has got the bulk of the wickets, but now he has to do it quickly enough.
Team news: Kuldeep Yadav, Niroshan Dickwella back
Niroshan Dickwella played the last of his 54 Tests way back in 2023. He has been recalled specifically for his experience ahead of younger wicketkeeper-batters who have done better in domestic cricket. They are likely to go the traditional route of two seamers and three spinners with Sonal Dinusha providing some batting depth.
Sri Lanka (probable) 1 Lahiru Igalagamage, 2 Nishan Fernando, 3 Dinesh Chandimal, 4 Kamindu Mendis, 5 Dhananjaya de Silva (capt.), 6 Niroshan Dickwella (wk), 7 Sonal Dinusha, 8 Prabath Jayasuriya, 9 Ramesh Mendis, 10 Asitha Fernando, 11 Lahiru Kumara
It is not so much of a comeback for Kuldeep Yadav as it is being part of a combination and conditions that can include him in the XI. He has a lot to prove after a long period of being on the bench in all formats. India are also likely to play two seamers along with their three left-arm spinners. Devdutt Padikkal should replace the injured B Sai Sudharsan, and Dhruv Jurel should play as a specialist batter.
India (probable) 1 KL Rahul, 2 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 3 Devdutt Padikkal, 4 Shubman Gill (capt.), 5 Rishabh Pant (wk), 6 Dhruv Jurel, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Manav Suthar, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Mohammed Siraj, 11 Prasidh Krishna
Pitch and conditions: Raining more than normal
Don’t expect the usual turner in Galle. Sri Lanka’s captain Dhananjaya de Silva confirmed that. Part of it might be tactics, part of it might be the weather around, which has hampered the pitch preparation and has actually left more moisture in the pitch than normal. You still want to bat first, though, and survive the initial movement to make use of the best batting conditions.
“This is a slightly different pitch from others we’ve played on in the past,” de Silva said. “I think it will be good for batters. It’s hard to predict exactly how it will play because with the weather around, they haven’t been able to dry it as they normally might. But I think it will be a good batting track.”
The weather forecast is not great; it has been raining more than normal for this time of the year, and should affect the Test as well.
Stats and trivia: Dickwella’s search for a century
- Nobody has scored more half-centuries than Niroshan Dickwella’s 22 without a Test century.
- Only Shane Warne has scored more runs than Dickwella’s 2757 without a century.
- Stranded in the middle of the table, both teams need a 2-0 win to stay in realistic contention of making the WTC final.
Quotes
“The main goal is to play the World Test Championship final, which is next year and we have got about nine Tests. And I think we have to win around six or seven to be able to have a good chance at qualifying. So in terms of that I think this is a very important series for us, and we have had the right kind of preparation for this series.”
India captain Shubman Gill
“When you think about Test cricket in Sri Lanka the first thing that you think of is the Galle ground. I was lucky to play a lot of cricket here growing up. I’m very happy to be captaining Sri Lanka in the 50th Test here. I’ve played a lot of school cricket here as well. That experience will be valuable in this series.”
Sri Lanka captain Dhananjaya de Silva
