Sri Lanka pick four quicks for Galle, and Dickwella returns after three years
Sri Lanka’s 16 for the first Test against India carries four specialist fast bowlers, three front-line spinners and a recalled Niroshan Dickwella behind the stumps at 33.
Aug 12, 2026
Sri Lanka have picked four specialist fast bowlers and three front-line spinners for a Test match in Galle, which is not the balance anyone expects at that ground. It is not even the selection that will get the most attention. Niroshan Dickwella is back, three years after he last played for Sri Lanka.
A keeper who has been away since 2023
Dickwella is 33 and comes in because Kusal Mendis is out with a hamstring injury. He will keep wicket and probably bat at six or seven, in a middle order that also has Dinesh Chandimal, Kamindu Mendis and the captain Dhananjaya de Silva, who are likely to fill Nos 3, 4 and 5. Kamindu is the vice-captain.
Pathum Nissanka is the other absentee, still recovering from wrist surgery. His place has kept Pasindu Sooriyabandara in the squad, though the uncapped top-order batter is unlikely to play: Nishan Madushka and Lahiru Udara opened in Sri Lanka’s most recent Test and should do so again.
Four quicks, three front-line spinners
The seam allocation is the odd part. Asitha Fernando, Lahiru Kumara, Vishwa Fernando and Dilshan Madushanka give Sri Lanka four specialist quicks at home, with the allrounder Milan Rathnayaka a fifth seam option. Asitha will play. The rest are competing for what is usually one spot in Galle.
Madushanka’s inclusion is the strangest of them. He has played one Test, his debut against Pakistan in 2023, and has not taken a wicket in the format. He has spent most of the last two months playing T20 cricket, and has not turned out in Sri Lanka’s four-day domestic competition this year or in any multi-day A-team fixture.
Only three front-line spinners are in the 16, which on this ground is the number that matters. Prabath Jayasuriya leads the attack, and the second spinner will be either Ramesh Mendis or the uncapped Keshara Nuwantha. Sonal Dinusha, a left-arm spinning allrounder, gives them another option lower down.
Nuwantha has already bowled at this India side
Nuwantha is 25 and India have seen him twice already this winter. He took 5 for 159 in the first innings of a Sri Lanka A match against India A in Galle last month, and match figures of 3 for 97 against the senior side in the tour game in Colombo last week.
What he does not have is volume. Fifteen first-class matches and 64 wickets is a thin record for a spinner who could be asked to bowl long spells in a Test at Galle.
The first Test starts on Saturday at the Galle International Cricket Stadium and runs to 19 August. The second is at the SSC in Colombo from 23 August. Both count towards the World Test Championship cycle, where India sit fifth and need most of what is available in this series to stay in the argument.
Sri Lanka’s squad: Dhananjaya de Silva (capt), Kamindu Mendis (vc), Lahiru Udara, Nishan Madushka, Dinesh Chandimal, Pasindu Sooriyabandara, Sonal Dinusha, Niroshan Dickwella (wk), Ramesh Mendis, Prabath Jayasuriya, Keshara Nuwantha, Milan Rathnayaka, Asitha Fernando, Lahiru Kumara, Vishwa Fernando, Dilshan Madushanka.