Sooriyabandara was out with Sri Lanka one run behind, and they lead by 16 going into the final day
Pasindu Sooriyabandara was stumped for 92 with Sri Lanka still a run short of making India bat again. Four wickets stand between India and a 2-0 series win.
Aug 26, 2026
Sri Lanka batted for most of Wednesday at the Sinhalese Sports Club and were still behind when their fifth wicket fell. That is what following on by 213 does to a scoreboard. Pasindu Sooriyabandara was stumped for 92 with the total on 212, a single run short of wiping out the deficit, and by the time rain ended the fourth day Sri Lanka had crept to 229 for six and a lead of 16. India need four wickets on Thursday, and then whatever small chase is left, to win the series 2-0.
The stand that made a match of it
Sri Lanka were 63 for two and 150 behind when Kamindu Mendis walked in. Mohammed Siraj had removed Lahiru Udara for three with a short ball in the fourth over, and Ravindra Jadeja had trapped Kamil Mishara lbw for 32 off 39 balls, an innings that told you Sri Lanka had decided sitting in was not going to work.
What followed was the best batting of their series. Sooriyabandara and Kamindu put on 115 for the third wicket, and their hundred partnership took 156 balls. Kamindu made 55 from 92 with three sixes, two of them off the left-arm spinner Manav Suthar, who has been the bowler Sri Lanka cannot get away from all month. Shubman Gill eventually caught him off Prasidh Krishna, and Sri Lanka were 178 for three.
Sooriyabandara made 80 and 92 in the same Test
Sooriyabandara was bowled by Jadeja for 80 in the first innings. On Wednesday he made 92 from 173 balls with ten fours and a six, reached tea on 90, and then charged Suthar wide of off stump and was stumped by Rishabh Pant. He has now been dismissed in the eighties and the nineties in the same match, which is a peculiar kind of week to have.
He was also, for long stretches, the reason this Test was not already finished. Sri Lanka were eight for two in the first innings and 63 for two in the second, and on both occasions the recovery ran through him. Sonal Dinusha did the rest with 103 in the first innings. Between them those two have produced almost everything Sri Lanka’s batting has managed in Colombo.
Three wickets for 19 runs after tea
Sri Lanka went to tea on 199 for three with Sooriyabandara on 90 and the captain Dhananjaya de Silva on 14. Nineteen runs later they had lost three. De Silva went for 23, inside-edging Suthar to Devdutt Padikkal. Sooriyabandara followed at 212. Saransh Jain, playing his first Test, then had Niroshan Dickwella lbw for six.
Dinusha and Keshara Nuwantha survived the rest, which took some doing. Sri Lanka scored 11 runs in the last ten overs of the day before the rain that has cut into each of the last three days arrived again. Suthar finished on two for 81 from 18 overs, Jain one for 55, and Siraj’s nine overs cost 11 runs.
What Thursday needs
Dinusha is seven not out and Nuwantha three, with Prabath Jayasuriya, Lahiru Kumara and Asitha Fernando to come. Sri Lanka’s last three wickets in the first innings added 117, and Dinusha was there for all of it, so India will not treat this as a formality. They also need daylight and dry weather, neither of which this ground has offered in bulk.
India won the first Test at Galle by 165 runs, where Suthar took four for 76 and six for 55 and Padikkal made 167 off 230 balls. Padikkal now has 328 runs at 109.33 in the series and Suthar 15 wickets at 19.80. Sri Lanka have four wickets and a full day to keep this World Test Championship series from finishing 2-0.