India face Sri Lanka XI in Colombo warm-up as batters work on spin

Indian batters will play a three-day warm-up against a Sri Lanka XI at the Nondescripts Cricket Club in Colombo on Friday, August 7, 2026, as they prepare for a two-match Test series against Sri Lanka next week. The touring side's immediate objective is to sharpen their techniques against spin ahead of the Tests.

Quality spin exposed India in recent home series against New Zealand and South Africa, and the visitors expect similar challenges in Sri Lankan conditions. The warm-up offers the touring batters first-hand time on local pitches, a preparation many view as indispensable despite individual net sessions at home by some players. Shubman Gill, KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal undertook specific spin practice before flying to Colombo, but team staff stress match outings on Lankan wickets cannot be replaced by nets. Several members of the Indian squad will be playing red-ball cricket on Sri Lankan surfaces for the first time.

India last toured Sri Lanka for a Test series in 2017, and the squad selected for 2026 shows considerable turnover since then. Only KL Rahul, Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja in this group have previously appeared in Test matches in Sri Lanka. That relative inexperience in these conditions is a key reason the warm-up has been given added importance by the visitors.

In the absence of an injured Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj is set to lead India’s pace attack with support from Prasidh Krishna, Gurnoor Brar, Manav Suthar and Saransh Jain. The bowling unit is described in the report as largely inexperienced apart from Siraj and Kuldeep Yadav, and those bowlers will be keen for practice on a Lankan surface. Brar and Jain, in particular, will look to build on recent form.

Both Gurnoor Brar and Saransh Jain had strong outings for India A against Sri Lanka A last month at Galle, performances that the selectors and coaching staff have noted. They will be eager for another competitive session in Colombo to press their cases for the Test XI. Head Coach Gautam Gambhir emphasised on this point, saying, "We know what is in front of us. We can do volume, we can push our limits, we can tick all the boxes and come 15th morning whether we are batting first or bowling first we will be absolutely ready with every answer to every question thrown at us. "So make sure to tick all the boxes from now on," Gambhir exhorted his wards in a video posted by BCCI.

Intermittent rain is forecast to affect Colombo from Friday and that may jeopardise India’s planned preparations. Sri Lanka Cricket named a strong SLC XI for the warm-up that contained several frontrunners for Test selection, with Sonal Dinusha appointed captain; Dinusha has played three Tests for Sri Lanka.

India: Shubman Gill (Captain), KL Rahul (Vice-Captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant (WK), Sai Sudharsan*, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Manav Suthar, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Gurnoor Brar, Devdutt Padikkal, Saransh Jain, Auqib Nabi.

SLC XI: Nishan Madushka, Ravindu Rashantha, Pasindu Sooriyabandara, Pavan Rathnayake, Ahan Wickramasinghe, Sonal Dinusha (Captain), Anjala Bandara (wk), Nipun Dananjaya, Lahiru Kumara, Vishwa Fernando, Asanka Manoj, Isitha Wijesundara, Ramesh Mendis, Kesara Nuwantha, Dilum Sudeera.

The three-day warm-up is scheduled to start at 10 a.m.; the first Test of the two-match series is set for Galle on August 15.