🏏India tour of Sri Lanka 2026: 2nd Test at Colombo: 23/08/26🏏- Page 3

India have won the toss and have opted to bat

Pitch report: We expect a run fest. You know, that is the trait of this pitch. It provides a lot of runs for team batting first, and so also maybe team batting second. Now, when I look at the surface for this Test match this morning, you can see it's the same approach from the curator, same curator in Galle, and he's got the same approach here as well. He's covered the entire surface with grass. The only difference is there is a little bit of greenery on this grass. It's not a green top, but a little more sort of live grass as opposed to in the last Test where it was completely dried grass. So I again see the same approach where they're trying to keep the soil together with a lot of grass on top, grass to hold it. So let's not talk about this as a pitch meant for seamers because there is grass. But because there is a little bit of live grass, as I said, teams winning the toss will bat first. There's no doubt about it. But the bowlers who bowl with the new ball might just get a little bit of help in the first half an hour, one hour, the cliched line that we always use. The interesting thing about this pitch is that teams batting first have won 16 times. Teams who have lost the toss, I guess, and batted second have also won 16 times. So this is one of those pitches. Very rarely you get this kind of a surface where winning the toss is not crucial. - Sanjay Manjrekar.

Teams:

India (Playing XI): Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Devdutt Padikkal, Shubman Gill(c), Rishabh Pant(w), Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel, Saransh Jain, Manav Suthar, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna

Sri Lanka (Playing XI): Lahiru Udara, Kamil Mishara, Pasindu Sooriyabandara, Kamindu Mendis, Dhananjaya de Silva(c), Sonal Dinusha, Niroshan Dickwella(w), Keshara Nuwantha, Prabath Jayasuriya, Lahiru Kumara, Asitha Fernando

Dhananjaya de Silva: [On bowling first] Yes, of course, as Shubman said, it's quite harder than Galle. I thought, yeah, it's good for batting, and I don't mind it bowling because, cloud covers, maybe we can strike early and put them under pressure. [Team changes] Yes, Kamil Mishara debuting today, and yes, Pasindu is also playing today. [What they need to do better] Well, as I said, you know, we had to strike early when we're bowling and when batting not losing wickets early, keep the scoreboard ticking and get runs on the board.

Shubman Gill: Batting first, yes. [On the pitch] It looks like a much harder, much better surface compared to Galle. Galle was also a very good wicket, but I think as the game went on, it got a little bit slower and the ball started to turn. We're expecting the same, but I think for the first two or three days, I think it'll be a really good wicket to bat on. [Playing XI] Kuldeep, unfortunately, had some infections, so he misses out, and Saransh makes his debut for India. [How he would rate the Galle win] I would say probably a nine, because there's always room for improvement, and I think we played a pretty good match, a decent match. And obviously there were some areas where we could have got a little bit better, but, you know, this is Test cricket. It's very, very difficult to be able to have a near-perfect game because you're playing for five days, and to play that dominant and consistent cricket, especially in Test, is hard. But I think overall we had a pretty good match.

https://www.cricbuzz.com/cricket-videos/202214/who-is-saransh-jain-indias-newest-test-recruit

Vaibhav wali match kon se channel per hai

Duleep trophy

-- Aged 33y 145d, Saransh Jain is India's oldest Test debutant in the 21st century. Saba Karim had made his Test debut at 32y 362d against Bangladesh in Dhaka in 2000.

0.5

India 5/0

Originally posted by: DiamondLife

Vaibhav wali match kon se channel per hai

Duleep trophy

TV Channel: Star Sports Network

Live Streaming: JioStar / JioHotstar

Match Timing: 9:30 AM IST daily

Lahiru Kumara to Yashasvi Jaiswal, FOUR, this races through the slip cordon. Kumara is left with his hands on his hips. Very full delivery, close to yorker length, Jaiswal brings his bat down and squeezes it off the toe-end, the ball splits second slip and gully

1.5

4

Lahiru Kumara to Yashasvi Jaiswal, FOUR, shot! Kumara goes fuller than the previous delivery, Jaiswal saw the width outside off and decided to drive, slices it square of the wicket and beats the diving point fielder. Not fully convincing but Jaiswal picks up the boundary

Originally posted by: Viswasruti

The 2026 Duleep Trophy matches are televised live on the Star Sports Network (including Star Sports Khel) and available for live streaming on the JioStar / JioHotstar app and website.

TV Channel: Star Sports Network

Live Streaming: JioStar / JioHotstar

Match Timing: 9:30 AM IST daily

Thank you Madhu

But none of the star sports channel is showing live on TV

KL Rahul's first runs--

Asitha Fernando to Rahul, FOUR, to sweeper cover