Sri Lanka go to Colombo without three first-choice batters, and one is out because of a rule
Kusal Mendis and Dinesh Chandimal are out of Sunday’s second Test at the SSC and Pathum Nissanka is unlikely, leaving Gary Kirsten to rebuild a batting order while 1-0 down.
Aug 20, 2026
Sri Lanka will go into the second Test against India without Kusal Mendis and Dinesh Chandimal, and probably without Pathum Nissanka too. That is three first-choice batters missing from a side that is already 1-0 down, with the match starting at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo on Sunday.
Chandimal is out because of a rule, not a scan
Chandimal’s absence is the strange one. He was hurt while fielding on the fourth day in Galle and left the field, with Pasindu Sooriyabandara coming on as a concussion substitute. ICC playing conditions stop a player who has been replaced for concussion reasons from playing again for seven days, so Chandimal is ruled out automatically. There is no selection call to make and no fitness test to pass.
Sooriyabandara, who made a duck in his first Test innings, is the man most likely to benefit. A debut earned through someone else’s head knock may yet turn into a second cap.
One hamstring, one wrist
Mendis has not played competitive cricket since tearing a hamstring in the early rounds of the Lanka Premier League, and Sri Lanka coach Gary Kirsten was blunt about the timeline. “Kusal Mendis has a proper hamstring injury, and will not be available for a while,” Kirsten said.
Mendis was replaced in the first-Test squad by Niroshan Dickwella, who had not played a Test since 2023 and answered with 80 at Galle, his 23rd Test fifty and another entry in a record he would rather not hold, most half-centuries in Test cricket without ever making a hundred. He should keep the place.
Nissanka is the closest to returning of the three. He had wrist surgery in July and is understood to be further along than Mendis, but he is still uncomfortable batting, which is not a small problem for an opener facing a side that has just bowled Sri Lanka out twice.
Kirsten is selling it as an opening
“So we’re missing a few guys from that perspective, but it creates a good opportunity for young players to come in and stake their claim,” Kirsten said. “There are players who have got really good first-class records in this country. It’s a good opportunity for them.”
Coaches say this when they have no other option, and Kirsten is not wrong about the domestic records. He is asking those players to walk into a Test his senior batters could not handle.
What is waiting for them
India won at Galle by 165 runs, making 462 and 193 against Sri Lanka’s 284 and 206. Manav Suthar took 4 for 76 and then 6 for 55 for match figures of 10 for 131, which is a considerable way to introduce yourself to the World Test Championship, and Devdutt Padikkal made his maiden Test hundred.
Sri Lanka had not named a squad for Colombo when the injuries were confirmed, because the one announced before the series covered only the Galle Test. Whoever is named has five days at the SSC from 23 August to stop India from winning the series, and a batting order with three holes in it to do it with.