First away series win for Gambhir, but Sonal Dinusha dents India's WTC Final charge

Gautam Gambhir finally has his first away Test series win as India head coach, but the achievement came under tough conditions in Colombo. Playing the 2nd Test match, Sri Lanka's lower order batted out the entire final day to deny India a series cleansweep.

In Short

• India (503/9d) draw Sri Lanka (290, 429/9 F/O) in Colombo
• Gautam Gambhir secured his first away Test series win as India's head coach
• India were unable to force a win despite taking six wickets on Day 4

SL vs IND 2nd Test Brief Scores: India (503/9d) draw Sri Lanka (290, 429/9d f/o). Sonal Dinusha (103,133*).

Finally, it has happened! Two years after taking over the Indian cricket team, head coach Gautam Gambhir has won his first Test series away from home. The result could have come at a better time, though, as a woeful Indian team was swept aside by three-Test-old Sonal Dinusha on Thursday, August 27.

The Sri Lankan left-hander dominated the Indian bowling attack, leaving the visiting side red-faced on the final day of the second and final Test of the series. Batting with the tail, Dinusha put up an incredible resistance against Shubman Gill's Indian side, who failed to secure their second Test win of the series.

SL vs IND 2nd Test Day 5: Highlights

However, a poor final day on the field cannot take away from the fact that India head coach Gautam Gambhir has won his first away Test series in two years of coaching the Indian Test team. Gambhir has coached the Indian team since the middle of 2024, but has lost in Australia and drawn in England.

Gambhir was very close to losing in England as well, but a heroic spell from Mohammed Siraj saved the Indian team on the final day of the series at The Oval in London.

The series win in tricky Sri Lankan conditions would definitely feel good to Gambhir, but he would have probably wished to celebrate it with a win in the second Test, instead of a draw that feels more like a loss to the Indian team.

INDIA FAIL TO PICK 4 WICKETS

India were set for a dominant win in the Test match after enforcing the follow-on on Sri Lanka earlier in the game. They needed only four wickets on Day 5 and then had to chase down the remainder of the runs to win the Test match and clean sweep the series.

However, three Sri Lankan players put up a heroic resistance to bat out the entire day, handing Sri Lanka a morale-boosting draw in the final Test match. Sri Lanka scored 429 runs for the loss of nine wickets and declared their innings at 4:40 pm, about 40 minutes before stumps. With India unlikely to chase more than 200 runs in that amount of time, the two teams shook hands and called it a day.

Despite the draw in the final Test, Sri Lanka lost their home series 0-1 to India, courtesy of Devdutt Padikkal and Manav Suthar's heroics in both Test matches of the series.

Devdutt Padikkal was judged the Player of the Series for his two centuries in two matches.

HEROIC SRI LANKA DRAW TEST

At the start of Day 5, the stars were aligned for India to clean sweep Sri Lanka in the final Test match of the series. India needed it desperately if they were to give themselves the best chance of reaching the World Test Championship Final 2027.

However, the hosts had other plans.

Sonal Dinusha led the resistance, hitting his second century of the match, the third of the series, while Keshara Nuwantha and Lahiru Kumara played a total of 240 balls between them to take away crucial batting overs from India.

Dinusha and Nuwantha proved very early in the day that they had not come out on the final day to get rolled over by the Indians. The pair, who had added 57 runs in the first innings of the second Test while resisting the spinners for 137 balls, bettered themselves on Thursday. They played 242 balls in the second innings and added 112 runs between them to keep the Indian attack at bay throughout the morning.

With rain imminent, as it has been for most days in the final Test, this became a major headache for India.

Keshara Nuwantha, who has a first-class average of 12, played 150 balls, scoring 46 runs.

The grit of the Sri Lankan batters frustrated India so much that their shoulders dropped on the field. The spinners looked toothless for the major part of the morning, while fast bowler Prasidh Krishna's barrage of bouncers proved utterly useless against Sri Lanka's best batter, Dinusha, in this series.

Just when it looked like all hope had been wiped out, a breakthrough finally came through Manav Suthar.

Bowling the first over after lunch, Suthar was able to drift a ball into right-hander Keshara and spin it sharply away from him. The lapse in concentration after having been off the field induced an edge from Keshara, which went straight into the hands of Dhruv Jurel at slip.

With three wickets to go, India would have hoped to pick up quick wickets and chase the runs down in the remaining overs, but Prabath Jayasuriya (2 off 28) and Lahiru Kumara (12 off 90) had different plans and kept Sri Lanka's fire burning for the rest of the day.

INDIA FAIL IN TEST OF CHARACTER

The final day was a big Test of character for India captain Shubman Gill and head coach Gautam Gambhir, who had to figure out ways of bringing the Sri Lankan resistance down. But on Thursday, neither was able to find the required answers for the team.

Shubman Gill switched his spinners around, while Gautam Gambhir sent messages into the field, but absolutely nothing worked on the day. Criticism should come India's way considering the fact that they refused to bowl a part-timer, hoping for something different to happen in the game.

The Australians often bring in Marnus Labuschagne for the same reason, hoping that something weird might happen at the crease. Seeing a part-timer, the batter might drop his guard or lose his focus, but Shubman was guilty of not trying anything of that sort today.

The lack of attacking fields was another problem. India only hoped to pick the wicket of the batter opposite Sonal Dinusha, who unfortunately continued to be resilient on Thursday.

WTC FINAL QUALIFICATION RACE

With a 1-0 win secured, India now need to win six of the seven Tests they have left if they want to reach the WTC Final. That equation is now virtually impossible.

They are due to play New Zealand away and Australia at home after this, and India are unlikely to make it happen.

DINUSHA SWEEPS INDIA UNDER THE RUG

The young Sri Lankan batter, who has been in sensational form this series, once again employed his traditional and reverse sweep to keep India's spinners at bay. Dinusha stepped down the crease, lunged forward to sweep the ball, meeting the deliveries at the right time.

Dinusha on Thursday became only the third player in the history of the game to score a century in both innings of a Test match while following on.

• 116 & 145 - Vijay Hazare vs AUS, Adelaide, 1948
• 142 & 199* - Andy Flower vs SA, Harare, 2001
• 103 & 133* - Sonal Dinusha vs IND, Colombo SSC, 2026

The batter had played just one match before this and put in an incredible effort to bat a grand total of 426 balls in this Test match. Dinusha batted under pressure on both occasions, helping Sri Lanka score runs at a time when the rest of the batting unit had been blown away.

INDIA DID EVERYTHING THEY COULD: SHUBMAN

A tired Shubman Gill appeared in the post-match presentation, having admitted defeat at the hands of the Lankans. Gill said that India put themselves in the best position to win the Test match, but luck did not really go their way.

"We fielded for about 250 overs, we did everything that we can. I don't think we could have done anything differently. A lot of positives for us, learning from the opposition. The way they came back, it was tremendous to see. I don't think we could have done things differently," Shubman Gill said after the match.

The captain was all praise for Manav Suthar, who perhaps was the biggest highlight in the Indian bowling line-up this series.

"Suthar is consistent, how well he releases the ball, I think he's going to be crucial for us in the upcoming years. We will always keep believing and hopefully make it to the final," Gill concluded with a short remark on the WTC Final chances.

- Ends