Cricket: Sonal Dinusha, backed by the lower order, denies India series-sweeping win in second Test

Sonal Dinusha announced himself as a serious force to be reckoned with on an extraordinary day of Test cricket as a defiant Sri Lankan team fought hard for a draw. India took the series 1-0 after winning the first Test at Galle, but being unable to force a win in Colombo will hurt.

India were on the hunt for World Test Championship points, but more critically, having enforced the follow-on, they would have believed they had the bowlers to take 10 Sri Lankan wickets. As it turned out, the Day 5 pitch was not quite as dry as anticipated — thanks mainly to rain interruptions that kept the surface under covers for extended periods during the first four days. And yet, even without variable bounce or sharp turn, India would have fancied their chances when Sri Lanka began the final day six wickets down, with Dinusha and Keshara Nuwantha at the crease.

This meant India needed one wicket to get into the lower order. That wicket, however, took its own time coming. India were guilty of allowing Dinusha too many easy singles early on. With him on just 7, focussing solely on trying to dismiss Nuwantha was not the right approach.


As the ones and twos kept coming, and Nuwantha showed that he was more than capable of holding his own, some weaknesses in the Indian bowling were exposed.

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Saransh Jain, playing his first Test, was given every opportunity to force his way into the wickets, but he lacked the control and guile to threaten the edge consistently. It’s clear now that Saransh was elevated largely because of Washington Sundar’s injury, but that leaves India in a spot. Firstly, Washington has proven to be injury-prone, and secondly, if there are no young off-spinners coming through the ranks in Ranji Trophy, the powers that be need to look hard at remedying this.

Manav Suthar, who had a fabulous game in Galle, did not pose the same kind of threat. While he did get the occasional ball to spit and eventually picked up wickets by plugging away, he remains inexperienced and needed more support than he received.

Shubman Gill’s captaincy also bears looking at. He used the spinners in shorter spells than is the norm in the subcontinent and often, when restrictive fields were in place, there were no close-in catchers. While keeping an eye on the run rate is essential, spinners also need clear direction from their captain on where the next wicket might come from. Gill has been in the job for long enough now to learn and adapt. This experience will have taught him plenty, even if he did not get the result he wanted.

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Nuwantha equalled his highest first class score of 46, and in the process played some pleasing shots. His square drives, cover drives and punches down the ground, combined with the fact that he saw off 150 balls, make him a player that Sri Lanka should invest in for the long term.

Nuwantha and Dinusha added 112 for the seventh wicket, and if India thought separating the pair was job done, they were in for a rude shock. While Dinusha farmed the strike when needed, he also trusted Lahiuru Kumara to do a job. That Indian bowlers took 90 balls and more than two hours to get the wicket of Sri Lanka’s No. 10 was an indictment of just how much work still needed to be done if this team is to be a serious contender for the WTC title.

At the end of the Test, while it was imperative to doff your hat to young Dinusha for his consistency, grit and quality play, it’s important to examine whether India’s tactics and execution were good enough, even if it’s true that the pitch was not one on which spinners would run through the opposition.

If the wickets weren’t coming, bowlers needed to put together dry overs so that the pressure of the scoreboard could do its bit. India were not good enough to do that.

Sri Lanka eventually declared on 429 for 9, and by this point India had been on the field for nearly 250 overs. That is a significant sample size for the captain and coach to go back to the drawing board and look at what more can be done to sharpen the bowling attack.

BRIEF SCORES

India 503 for 9 dec (Padikkal 117, Jurel 115*; Asitha 4/106) drew with Sri Lanka 290 (Dinusha 103, Sooriyabandara 80; Prasidh 3/52, Suthar 3/85) and 429 for 9 dec (Dinusha 133*, Sooriyabandara 92; Jadeja 3/94, Suthar 3/121)