Shubman Gill won the toss and chose to bat first, with spin-bowling all-rounder Saransh Jain in place of Kuldeep Yadav. Sri Lanka were already 0-1 down in the series and needed a win just to level the two-match series.
Session 1: India was 88-2
India’s day did not begin the way Gill would have wanted. Sri Lanka’s seamer Lahiru Kumara found an early breakthrough; KL Rahul was gone in the fourth over. Having reached 18, he chased a wide, reaching delivery from Lahiru Kumara, only to feather an edge through to the wicketkeeper. Jaiswal was watchful at the other end.
Asitha Fernando conceded two back-to-back boundaries and then bowled a sharp delivery to Jaiswal, who was caught behind shortly after. India’s quick start had come to a screaming halt, and Devdutt Padikkal walked out to join his captain in the middle.
The umpires called lunch with India on 88 for 2 — not quite where Gill would have wanted to be after winning what had looked, at the toss, like a valuable toss to win, but not yet in serious trouble.
Session 2: Gill and Padikkal build the innings
India crossed three figures at 105 for 2 after 30 overs — Gill on 23, Padikkal ticking along on 18 not out. But luck is a major part of Test cricket. Padikkal survived two absolute sitters early in his stay, dropped in the slip cordon, and at backward points off edges that should have been taken cleanly. Those drops would haunt the Sri Lankan fielders that night.
Shubman Gill timed the ball beautifully through the covers and played the Sri Lankan spinners carefully. Asitha Fernando was then brought back into the attack — and struck. Gill was out in the 52nd over (51.5), Fernando breaking a huge 120-run partnership between the captain and Padikkal. Gill made 50 off 108 balls.
At the tea break on Day 1, India’s score stood at 186/3 after 51.5 overs.
Session 3: Padikkal’s century; India lose two more wickets
The final session had almost everything. Padikkal was dropped twice more. His second Test hundred in as many matches arrived to loud applause from the dressing room, and for a while India looked set to bat Sri Lanka out of the contest.
Lahiru Kumara was then held back for a second-new-ball burst. A short ball climbed on Rishabh Pant and struck him high on the wrist; the India wicketkeeper battled on for a while before eventually retiring hurt, with his fitness for the remainder of the Test left genuinely uncertain — team management was quick to clarify that, since the blow was to the hand rather than the head, a like-for-like concussion substitute was never on the cards. Kumara then produced an almost identical blow that left Ravindra Jadeja in for Pant, needing repeated visits from the physio for what looked like a mix of cramps and a nasty knock on the same area.
Padikkal and Jadeja stitched up a 74-run stand for the fourth wicket, both batsmen striking the ball cleanly whenever width was offered. Sri Lanka’s alternative route to a wicket — turn rather than pace — eventually did for Padikkal: Keshara Nuwantha, recalled by Dhananjaya de Silva specifically to break the stand, snuck a quicker, flatter delivery past Padikkal’s outside edge as he went back rather than forward, crashing into off stump. Padikkal fell for 117 off 193 balls, with 12 boundaries, in an innings built as much on discipline as strokeplay.
Fernando then took the second new ball late in the day. Jadeja, who had battled through pain to score 43 off 83 balls, was bowled, leaving the ball in the last over (85th) of the day.
Close of Play — Day 1
India finished Day 1 of the second Test against Sri Lanka at 300/5 in Colombo, built on Devdutt Padikkal’s second back-to-back Test century and Shubman Gill’s fifty. Six days after his maiden Test hundred-set-up victory for India in Galle, Padikkal had again benefited from fortune, with catches dropped by Sonal Dinusha and Dhananjaya de Silva when he was on 0 and 2. He capitalized on those chances to score a second successive century, lifting India from 88 for 2 to a commanding position.
India 300/5 (85 overs):
Devdutt Padikkal 117 (193 balls, 12×4); Shubman Gill 50; Ravindra Jadeja 43; Yashasvi Jaiswal 45
Bowling: Asitha Fernando 3 wickets; Prabath Jayasuriya 1 wicket; Keshara Nuwantha 1/93
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Last Updated on August 23, 2026 by Aditiya Sharma
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