India lose seven for 172 after Padikkal’s 167, and Galle has produced 116 overs in two days
India closed day two at Galle on 460 for 9, having lost seven wickets for 172 runs in the only session and a half the weather allowed. Devdutt Padikkal turned his maiden Test hundred into a career-best 167.
Aug 16, 2026
India began day two in Galle on 288 for 2 and ended it on 460 for 9. Sri Lanka will take that trade. Seven wickets for 172 runs is not what the first day promised, and all of it came after lunch, because monsoon rain washed out the entire morning session and then held up the restart again.
Forty-three overs were bowled on Sunday. India used them to add 172, lose most of their batting, and put a score on the board that still looks big until you count how much time is left to bowl at it.
Padikkal made 167 and nobody else passed 82
Devdutt Padikkal resumed on 131 and turned a maiden Test hundred into a career-best 167. He faced 230 balls, hit 15 fours and a six, and was finally stumped by Niroshan Dickwella off Prabath Jayasuriya with India 357 for 5. His century had come off 134 deliveries the previous evening, in a second-wicket stand of 150 with KL Rahul.
“I’ve dreamt of this moment,” Padikkal said after reaching the hundred. “For the last two years, I’ve been working really hard to try and make sure that when I get that opportunity, I can do something special like this.”
The rest of the top order got starts and gave them back. Shubman Gill made 16 from 28 before Jayasuriya had him caught by Lahiru Igalagamage. Rishabh Pant went at 39 off 62, caught off the debutant Keshara Nuwantha. Rahul, who had retired hurt on 77 on day one with severe cramps after being treated for a problem in his right forearm, came back when Pant fell at 307 and added five more before Nuwantha had him caught for 82.
Dhruv Jurel was the one who kept India moving. His 51 came off 68 balls with four fours and a six, and his stand of 55 with Manav Suthar for the seventh wicket took 66 deliveries when Sri Lanka were expecting to clean up. Jurel fell at 432, Mohammed Siraj at 447, Suthar at 447 as well. Kuldeep Yadav and Prasidh Krishna resume on Monday with one wicket left.
A debutant bowled 39 overs for 175 runs
Nuwantha, a 25-year-old off-spinner from Matara, finished the day with 3 for 175 from 39 overs on Test debut. He had gone wicketless for 98 on day one. That is a punishing amount of work for anyone in a first Test, and Sri Lanka had no real alternative: Lahiru Kumara went for 76 from 13 overs without a wicket, and Asitha Fernando’s 17 overs brought 1 for 61.
Jayasuriya provided the control. His 39 overs cost 109 with six maidens and brought four wickets, among them Padikkal, Gill and Jurel. Sri Lanka’s issue was never the left-armer. It was that the bowler at the other end went at nearly four and a half an over across a full day’s work.
Two days have produced 116 overs
The number sitting over this Test is the one on the clock. A scheduled 180 overs across two days has yielded 116. Day one ran to 73 before bad light ended it at 288 for 2. Day two lost a whole session before a ball was bowled and got 43 in.
India will want to finish the innings quickly on Monday and then hope for three dry days, because 460 on this surface is worth far more with time to use it than without. Sri Lanka bat last on a Galle pitch that will only turn more, and right now the forecast is doing more for them than their attack has.