SL vs IND 2nd Test Results

12:00 PM IST Chances dented - Shubman Gill is requested to collect the trophy. He does so with grace and walks towards his teammates, who wait for their captain to join them for the photographs behind the CHAMPIONS board. With a draw the eventual result, India's hopes of reaching the WTC final have taken a serious hit. They remain stuck in fifth on the table with their PCT slipping to 51.52. The road ahead looks tricky too. Their next Test assignment is a two-match series in New Zealand, though there is a breather of sorts first, with a couple of white-ball series sandwiched in between. The opening Test in Wellington gets underway on 19th November, before India host Australia for a five-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy in January 2027. And with the margin for error all but gone, they will need to win almost every remaining Test to keep their finals dream alive.

11:59 AM IST Over and out from Colombo - Sri Lanka might have lost the series, but there is plenty for them to draw genuine encouragement from as they look toward the future. Up next, they travel to Rawalpindi for the first Test of two against Pakistan, beginning on 19th November 2026. Right then, this marks the end of two highly absorbing Tests on the Lankan shores. India win it 1-0, but Sri Lanka prevented a clean sweep. But worry not, there's plenty of cricketing action going elsewhere, with the second Test between England and Pakistan underway at Lord's. You can switch tabs and follow all the updates from that game. But from here, we sign off, only to meet again. Cheers!

11:55 AM IST The captain of Sri Lanka - Dhananjaya de Silva believes it is important to identify and nurture talent for the future, and credits the selectors and coaching staff for allowing the youngsters to come in and express themselves. Feels that the return of the injured players is a good headache to have, with those who played in their absence now making it difficult for them to walk straight back into the XI.

11:53 AM IST A gamble that didn't quite pay off - Was enforcing the follow-on the right call? It is one of those decisions that will invite debate from both sides of the fence. The optimist will argue India had every reason to go for it. A 213-run first-innings lead, tired legs in the Sri Lankan camp and the uncertainty surrounding the weather. The pessimist, meanwhile, will point to the toll it took on India's own bowlers, forced straight back out into the field without the luxury of batting again to rest up, and a pitch that had by then flattened out into a graveyard for anything other than sheer patience. Because spare a thought for India's bowlers too, made to toil through a punishing 243.4 overs across both innings, 89.4 first up and another 154 second time around.

11:51 AM IST A series won, not swept - India, on the other hand, would be highly disappointed with how the last couple of days panned out. India owned the first two days with the bat, mounting a mammoth 503/9 declared. Devdutt Padikkal set the tone with a magnificent 117, Dhruv Jurel followed with an extremely fluent 115, and Rishabh Pant and Shubman Gill both chipped in with valuable runs. Sri Lanka fought back where they could, as Asitha Fernando picked up a four-for and Prabath Jayasuriya two, but the scale of India's total had already tilted this contest firmly in the visitors' favour.

11:51 AM IST The tail wagged and how! Also worth flagging are the contributions from Sri Lanka's lower-order batters. The likes of Keshara Nuwantha, Prabath Jayasuriya and Lahiru Kumara all showed genuine staying power at the crease, holding firm for long stretches across both innings. Frustrating a quality attack like India's is a kind of resistance that is no small feat to achieve. In the second innings specifically, with chips down at 229/6 and just a slender 16-run lead to start Day 5, they dug in remarkably well, with the last four stands lasting almost fifty overs.