Kolkata: Manav Suthar picked up 10 wickets as India defeated Sri Lanka by 165 runs at Galle on Wednesday, ensuring the visitors look back at their 600th Test with fond memories. This was the left-arm spinner’s second five-wicket haul as India secured 12 World Test Championship points to keep them firmly in the race for next year’s final, while Sri Lanka were left to contemplate how quickly a promising position had become a heavy defeat.
This was India’s fifth win in 10 Tests in the current WTC cycle and their first victory since they beat the West Indies in Ahmedabad last year. India’s PCT increased from 48.14 to 53.33 after the win. However, they remained fifth in the WTC standings, behind Australia (77.77), South Africa (75.00), New Zealand (72.22) and Bangladesh (66.67).
India have one more Test left in the Sri Lanka series before travelling to New Zealand for a two-Test series. Their WTC campaign will end with a five-Test Border-Gavaskar Trophy series against Australia at home next year.
If India manages to win all eight remaining Tests, their final points percentage could reach 74.07%, which would put them in an excellent position to make the final.
Resuming on their overnight score of 84 for four, Sri Lanka moved to 142 before losing two big wickets in the span of 26 balls. The scalp of first innings centurion Sonal Dinusha triggered an extraordinary collapse as Sri Lanka lost the remaining four wickets for just eight runs. It was the kind of culmination India were seeking after getting almost everything right on the go.
Shubman Gill won the toss and, on a slow surface that offered enough encouragement to spin without turning into a minefield, made the advantage count. Their victory was built initially by a No 3 playing only his third Test and finished by a left-arm spinner playing his second.
Devdutt Padikkal’s 167 was the foundation. He batted with the authority of a player who appeared to understand exactly what the conditions demanded, resisting the temptation to manufacture scoring opportunities and instead allowing the runs to accumulate. His hundred gave India a 178-run first-innings lead but equally crucial was the second innings 44 that provided the spinners a substantial margin for error.
Suthar exploited that beautifully. The most intriguing aspect of his bowling was not simply the amount of turn he generated but his ability to vary it without making his intentions obvious. There was the classical left-arm spinner’s delivery—flighted, drifting in, pitching on a teasing length and biting away. But there was also the quicker ball, pushed through at more than 90kph, which arrived before the batter expected it and often straightened. That combination proved devastating.
Sri Lanka’s resistance in the final innings had, for a while, threatened to make India work much harder than the final margin suggests. Dhananjaya de Silva and Sonal Dinusha put together a 95-run partnership from 202 balls, displaying precisely the sort of patience that can frustrate a fourth-innings attack on a pitch that seemed to flatten out. For the first hour, India had little to show for their efforts even as Mohammad Siraj and Ravindra Jadeja toiled away.
Dinusha, who had already made a hundred in the first innings, moved serenely towards another. He reached 50 with a six off Kuldeep Yadav and appeared destined to become the first Sri Lankan batter to turn the match into a genuine final-day problem for India. Dhananjaya was equally stubborn. He had survived the previous evening after Jadeja overstepped when he appeared to have caught the Sri Lankan captain at slip.
This time, however, there was no reprieve. Jadeja broke the partnership in the 56th over, finding the top edge of an uncharacteristic sweep from Dhananjaya and watching Suthar take the catch at short fine leg. That was the wicket India needed, but what followed mattered more.
Prasidh Krishna removed Niroshan Dickwella, who had spent much of his brief stay at the crease trying to manufacture momentum. The conversation between Dickwella and Yashasvi Jaiswal—fielding at close—before the dismissal had provided a lighter interlude: Jaiswal promising to take him to the IPL if he attacked the bowling. Dickwella tried, Krishna cashed in. That left Sri Lanka’s tail exposed, and Suthar did not waste the opportunity.
The 75th over was the decisive burst. Dinusha, having batted for 128 balls and reached 84, finally fell to a soft dismissal, inside-edging a flighted delivery onto his pad and offering a catch at leg gully. Two balls later, Prabath Jayasuriya was bowled by a delivery that gripped and spun past his defensive stroke. Suthar was suddenly on a hattrick.
He didn’t get it, but the manner of the next wicket was revealing. Lahiru Kumara played for turn against a ball that didn’t turn. It trimmed the outside edge and disappeared into Rishabh Pant’s gloves, giving Suthar his second five-for in two Tests. Two overs later, he finished the job himself.
There is a temptation to be carried away by a young spinner’s numbers, particularly on a Galle surface and against a lower-order exposed to pressure. Yet Suthar’s performance suggested something more substantial than favourable circumstances. He showed control and variation, qualities that India will value enormously as the WTC cycle develops.
Their campaign for the World Test Championship final is still a long road. But this was the sort of win India needed—comprehensive, built around a major first-innings contribution from a young batter, and sealed by another young bowler with a remarkably high bar. In what has been a challenging transition period, that’s a laudable start for India.
