Left-handed batter Devdutt Padikkal struck a commanding career-best score of 167 as India reached 460/9 in 116 overs on a rain‑hit day two of the first Test against Sri Lanka at the Galle International Stadium on Sunday.
India lost seven wickets in the shortened day but remain well placed in the game, with the pitch offering more assistance than anticipated to spinners. Closing his bat-face off Jayasuriya, Jurel offered a leading edge that Sri Lanka captain Dhananjaya de Silva grabbed through a magnificent one-handed diving catch at first slip. Rahul, who returned to bat after retiring hurt on 77 on Saturday due to right forearm cramps, added five runs before Nuwantha extracted sharp turn and bounce to have him caught at forward short leg for 82.
Kuldeep Yadav (12 not out) and Prasidh Krishna (1 not out) were at the crease at stumps, leaving open the possibility of an overnight declaration to press for early breakthroughs in Sri Lanka’s batting order. Sri Lanka found some encouragement through debutant off‑spinner Keshara Nuwantha, who picked up three wickets, while left‑arm spinner Prabath Jayasuriya returned figures of 4-109 to stop India from running away with the game. Padikkal showed no signs of slowing down as he flicked pacer Asitha Fernando over mid-on for four to reach his first-ever score of 150 in Tests. It also made Padikkal only the third Indian batter after Rahul Dravid (2009) and Cheteshwar Pujara (2017) to score 150-plus at number three against Sri Lanka. Mohammed Siraj clobbered a 79-kph delivery from Nuwantha high over long-on for six, before he miscued a slower ball from Fernando to mid-off.
