Devdutt Padikkal's unbeaten 142 and a fifty-plus stand with Ravindra Jadeja headlined Day 2 in Colombo, after Sri Lanka declared 363/8 on a demanding first day at the Nondescripts Cricket Club Ground. The three-day warm-up shapes the team sheet for the Galle Test on August 15.
Sri Lanka's decision to bat first after winning the toss at the Nondescripts Cricket Club Ground produced a 363/8 declared on a first day that rewarded patience. Nishan Fernando's 66 off 65 (eleven fours and a six) and opener Ravindu Ransantha's fifty set the tone, before the Indian spinners — Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Gurnoor Brar and Manav Suthar — kept chipping in. By stumps the visitors were already in the reply, with the temperature doing the rest of the work.
Day 2 was the story of one man. Yashasvi Jaiswal fell for a duck off the second ball to Vishwa Fernando, which made lunch read India 67/1 rather than the more comfortable 60-plus without loss the openers had been eyeing. KL Rahul, standing in for the resting Shubman Gill, and Devdutt Padikkal steadied the innings. By tea India were 180/4 — still six short of the target — and the talk had already moved from a quick first-innings lead to a long, attritional game.
Padikkal's day-two numbers stood out: a century (103 not out off 121 balls, six fours) and a Tea score of 142 not out, after a brief scare when a Lahiru Kumara bouncer forced a concussion check that he cleared. Jadeja, returning to competitive cricket for the first time since IPL 2026, completed a fifty and added fifty-plus with Manav Suthar. Dhruv Jurel (1) and Rishabh Pant (2) fell in quick succession to Mendis before the stands, but the platform held.
This was a fixture that doubled as an audition. India are playing the warm-up without pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, and Sai Sudharsan's involvement in the Test series is subject to fitness. The combination that mattered most was the middle order, and that is where Padikkal made his case. A 142 not out against a Sri Lanka Cricket XI containing seven members of the wider Test set-up is the kind of innings that presses a number-three claim, especially when Sudharsan's availability is uncertain.
For the bowlers, the wicket-tally across two days gave the management a small data set to work with. Jadeja's spell on Day 1 suggested the Galle surface — dry, low, slow, turning square from day three — is going to be his home for long stretches. Kuldeep Yadav, Gurnoor Brar and Manav Suthar each took a wicket in the first innings, a reminder that India arrived in Sri Lanka with three spinners in the match squad and were willing to use all three. That changes how the batting order is built: a long tail is fine if the top seven average 40-plus.
KL Rahul leading the side in Gill's absence is the second-order story. The BCCI confirmed the stand-in captaincy after Gill took an impact injury to his right ring finger during Thursday's practice and was rested on Day 1 as a precaution. The medical team is monitoring his progress. If Gill is not fit for the first Test, Rahul keeps the armband, and the team-sheets most Indian fans had mentally drafted in June shift again. India's last three Test series have ended in defeat, and the message from this warm-up is that the selectors are using every available data point.
Sonal Dinusha, leading Sri Lanka Cricket XI, opened with Ransantha, and the pair handled the new ball without alarm. Ransantha's fifty came off 78 balls and was the innings' foundation. Fernando's 66 off 65 (eleven fours, one six) pushed the run rate past three-and-a-half in the middle session. Then came a clatter: spin from both ends, Jadeja's left-arm angle working against the right-handers, Kuldeep's googly accounting for one middle-order batter, Brar's seam-up angle finding a thick edge, Suthar holding one end with tidy off-spin.
The declaration — 363/8 — was a statement of intent from the Sri Lanka camp. With a three-day fixture (it was originally scheduled for four, then trimmed) and a Galle Test starting a week later, there is no point batting on into Day 2 unless you are pushing for a result. The hosts used the time to give seven bowlers a bowl, which is gold dust for the Test side's preparation.
| Batter | R | B | 4s | 6s | Dismissal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ravindu Ransantha | 52 | 78 | 6 | 0 | c Pant b Jadeja |
| Nishan Fernando | 66 | 65 | 11 | 1 | run out |
| Sonal Dinusha (c) | 41 | 92 | 4 | 0 | lbw b Kuldeep |
| Pathum Nissanka | 38 | 71 | 3 | 0 | c Rahul b Suthar |
| Kamindu Mendis | 29 | 54 | 2 | 0 | b Brar |
| Lahiru Kumara | 22 | 31 | 2 | 1 | not out |
| Vishwa Fernando | 15 | 18 | 1 | 0 | not out |
| Total | 363/8 declared in 87 overs | ||||
Scorecard reflects the public record on Day 1 stumps; lower-order contributions are aggregated under "Extras" in the original broadcast scorecard.
The morning session belonged to Vishwa Fernando. He had the new ball on a length, found the edge of Jaiswal's bat in the second over, and the scoreboard read 0/1 before most of the Colombo press box had finished their first coffee. Rahul and Padikkal then did the work most tours ask of a top-order pair: see off the new ball, rotate strike, leave well, and only punish the loose one. By lunch the stand was past fifty.
The afternoon session was the Padikkal show. The century came off 121 balls, with six fours and the rest singles and twos. The Lahiru Kumara bouncer that prompted the concussion check was the day's most discussed delivery — it climbed, Padikkal took his eye off it, and the medical team took him through the standard protocol. He was back at the crease within the hour. At Tea he was on 142, the highest individual score by an Indian in a tour match in Sri Lanka in the last three seasons, and the only batter still standing from the top four.
Jadeja, batting at six, played the kind of innings that gets a coach nodding. He reached his fifty, took the strike away from Mendis when the spinner looked like getting through, and put on fifty-plus with Suthar. The lower-order contribution matters more than usual on a slow turner — Galle in mid-August is going to reward anyone who can occupy the crease for 25 overs. The Indian management will have noted the strike rotation, the soft hands against spin, and the willingness to use the feet.
Three things stood out from the two completed days, and each one feeds into the team India will probably pick on August 15.
Padikkal's case for number three is now a conversation the selectors have to have out loud. Sudharsan, if fit, is the incumbent in that slot, but Padikkal's 142 not out on a turning track against a Test-quality attack is not a number the team management can ignore. The likely compromise is to give Sudharsan first crack, with Padikkal as backup and Rahul sliding up to open if the balance needs a left-right combination at the top.
Four specialist spinners took the ball across the warm-up. With Bumrah unavailable, India do not have the luxury of a long, fast-bowling battery, and the Galle surface is going to demand 40+ overs of spin in a day. Jadeja and Kuldeep will operate in tandem; Brar and Suthar provide variety and insurance. The batting order has to be built to allow that.
Gill's finger injury is described as an "impact injury" being monitored, and the BCCI's wording on Day 1 was careful. If Gill is not available for the Galle Test, Rahul keeps the armband, and the team-sheet reshuffles. The warm-up was the first chance the camp had to see Rahul in the role on the field, and he appeared comfortable — the DRS conversations, the field settings against Mendis, the rotation of bowlers were all in his voice.
Uncapped players Auqib Nabi and Saransh Jain are in line for game time on the final day, and the warm-up is being used to give them a Test-match simulation rather than a net session. For a 22-year-old all-rounder, getting 30-40 overs in the middle in Sri Lanka, against a Test-quality spinner, is the kind of audition the selectors remember. The management has been clear: the World Test Championship cycle will run through 2027, and the bench needs to be filled now.
For Indian readers, the immediate fantasy question is which of these names travels to Galle. The warm-up is the only chance the public has to see the squad in match conditions before the team sheet drops, and the Day 3 card matters less for its score than for the order in which the bowlers are used and the order in which the batters come in. Watch who gets a long bowl in the morning, and who comes in at number seven rather than eight.
Day 3 is the third and final day of the warm-up, starting at 10:00 am local (and IST). The likely shape is India batting through the first session to push past 300, then declaring and giving the bowlers another hit-out. Jadeja, Kuldeep and Brar will want overs in the bag. The uncapped pair will be given a long bowl if India take six or more second-innings wickets. The Galle Test squad is expected to be announced within 48 hours of the warm-up ending.
The 1st Test begins at the Galle International Stadium on August 15, 2026. The 2nd Test is at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo from August 23 to 27. Both matches count toward the World Test Championship, and both are part of a packed India Test calendar that will continue through the home series against the West Indies and the tour of South Africa later in the year. India have lost three Test series in the last two years, and the framing from the camp is consistent: every tour game, every net session, every warm-up hour is part of the rebuild.
The next live update to track is the Indian first-innings total at stumps on Day 2 and the team India will name for Galle. Padikkal's innings is now the headline talking point; Gill's finger is the headline medical note; the spin combination is the headline tactical story. The Galle Test, a week away, will tell us which of these threads the management pulled on. Royal11 will cover both Tests, the team announcement, and the first Test's day-by-day story once the squads are locked.
For readers who want the scoreboard-by-scoreboard view as it happens, Royal11's live cricket coverage updates session by session — see the live cricket page for the day-by-day schedule, broadcast details, and the team-news ticker once the Galle Test begins.
