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Sonal Dinusha carried an unbeaten 133 across 420 minutes and Keshara Nuwantha and Lahiru Kumara occupied 240 balls between them as Sri Lanka, following on 213 behind, batted out the final day to draw the second Test at the SSC. India take the series 1-0 on the strength of their 165-run win at Galle, but leave Colombo with questions about the decision that gave Sri Lanka the chance.
Colombo, Sri Lanka: There is no other sport in which a man scoring twelve runs in two hours is the story.
Lahiru Kumara faced 90 balls on Thursday. He hit one boundary. He and Dinusha added 47 across 169 deliveries, and by the time Ravindra Jadeja finally had him caught by Yashasvi Jaiswal, the clock had beaten India as thoroughly as any batter could have. Asitha Fernando’s 24-ball nought finished the job.
This is what Test cricket offers that nothing else does: an entire day’s work measured not in runs but in balls survived, and a scorecard on which 12 from 90 sits alongside a hundred as an equal contribution.
Dinusha’s Series
The hundred belonged to Sonal Dinusha, and it was his third of the series.
Playing only his fifth Test, he faced 264 balls across 420 minutes for an unbeaten 133 — a fourth score of fifty or more in four innings across the two matches. Over the series he batted 1,139 minutes and faced 722 deliveries.
He did it while cramping, on a fifth-day surface, with the weariness of a side that had already batted once and been sent straight back in. And he did it ugly by his own standards — Dinusha is an elegant driver and puller, but on Thursday he trusted his defence, smothering the spinners off the back foot and getting his body behind everything the quicks offered.
The Stand That Actually Saved It
Kumara’s vigil will be remembered, but the innings turned earlier.
Sri Lanka were 218 for 6 and just five runs ahead overall when Keshara Nuwantha joined Dinusha. They added 112 in 242 balls, Nuwantha making 46 from 150 with four boundaries, and by the time Manav Suthar had him caught behind on 104.4 overs, Sri Lanka were 330 and in credit.
Prabath Jayasuriya then blocked 28 balls for 2. Kumara blocked 90 for 12. Asitha faced 24 without scoring.
The Follow-On
India’s decision to enforce will be picked over. Bowling coach Morne Morkel had signalled at the close of day three that they were considering it, and the threat of bad weather made it look sensible: a lead of 213, two days left, rain in the forecast.
The rain did not come. The pitch did not misbehave. And India’s bowlers, having already sent down 83.4 overs in Sri Lanka’s first innings, were asked for 154 more. Suthar bowled 41 overs in the second innings, Jadeja 38.3, Saransh Jain 37. By the close, Shubman Gill, Jaiswal and Dhruv Jurel had all been given an over.
There is a counter-argument, and it is fair. Batting again would have handed Sri Lanka three or four sessions to survive rather than six, and they survived six. The problem was not the arithmetic. It was that the pitch stayed placid and Sri Lanka batted far better than anyone expected.
Either way, India will remember that Sri Lanka reached 209 for 3 in the second innings and that the match had, briefly, slipped entirely out of their control.
Sooriyabandara’s Two Innings
The other Sri Lankan to emerge with a reputation enhanced was Pasindu Sooriyabandara.
Playing his second Test and his first in the starting XI, he made 80 in the first innings and 92 from 173 balls in the second, adding 58 with Kamil Mishara and 115 with Kamindu Mendis, who made 55. He was finally stumped by Rishabh Pant off Suthar — Pant having returned to the gloves after Jurel kept through the first innings.
The Series
India win it 1-0, and the margin at Galle — 165 runs, with Suthar taking ten wickets — was emphatic enough to justify the outcome.
But the second Test produced three Dinusha hundreds across the series, a debutant’s two fifties, and a last day on which the most valuable innings played was worth twelve. Sri Lanka lost the series and left the SSC with something better than a consolation.
Result: Match drawn. India win the two-match series 1-0.
India 503/9 dec (Dhruv Jurel 115*, Devdutt Padikkal 117, Rishabh Pant 63, Shubman Gill 50; Asitha Fernando 4-106)
Sri Lanka 290 (Sonal Dinusha 103, Pasindu Sooriyabandara 80; Prasidh Krishna 3-52, Manav Suthar 3-85) and 429/9 dec, following on (Dinusha 133*, Sooriyabandara 92, Kamindu Mendis 55, Keshara Nuwantha 46; Suthar 3-121, Jadeja 3-94)
Venue: Sinhalese Sports Club, Colombo
