Jaiswal and KL Rahul open for India as Gill wins toss in second Test at SSC

Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul began India's innings in the second Test against Sri Lanka at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo on 2026-08-23, with Asitha Fernando bowling the opening over.

India captain Shubman Gill won the toss and elected to bat in the second and final Test at the SSC; Gill said: “Batting first, yes. It looks like a much harder wicket than Galle. The pitch got slower and started to turn, but this will be a good wicket to bat on.” Sri Lanka captain Dhananjaya de Silva agreed the surface looked tougher than Galle and chose to bowl, citing cloud cover as a possible factor, while confirming two changes to his XI including Kamil Mishara on debut and Pasindu Sooriyabandara.

Play started in sunny, windy conditions with two slips and a wide gully in place as the two umpires made their way out; Jaiswal was on strike for the first delivery. The early spell from the Sri Lankan pacemen created a couple of chances but no wickets in the opening phase, and the scoreboard showed progress after the first 30 minutes: “First 30 minutes have ticked off in this second Test.”

KL Rahul faced an lbw appeal that prompted Sri Lanka to review; Niroshan Dickwella and Asitha Fernando convinced their skipper to take the review, but UltraEdge showed daylight and Ball Tracking projected the ball to miss the leg stump, so Sri Lanka lost the review and umpire Ahsan Raza remained unmoved. Rahul produced a boundary off Asitha Fernando, with commentary noting he “takes a big stride in, leans completely onto the ball and just creams it through covers for a marvelous boundary.”

Yashasvi Jaiswal offered a mix of leaves, defensive blocks and attacking strokes in the opening overs, getting off the mark with a straight drive boundary off Asitha Fernando described in the coverage as: “Picture perfect shot and India are underway!... nails the straight drive to the left of mid off for a boundary to get off the mark.” He also profited from a pair of boundaries off Lahiru Kumara, one slicing through the gully/second-slip region and another through backward point and cover.

Over-by-over details recorded early rhythm: Asitha Fernando’s first over yielded 5 runs, while an over from Lahiru Kumara produced 8; the commentary also recorded at least one maiden from Lahiru and another maiden credited to Asitha Fernando later as “A maiden by Asitha Fernando, first of the contest.” Specific deliveries were noted at speeds such as 130.2 kph, 137.8 kph and 140.4 kph on various balls to both openers.

India’s playing XI included debutant Saransh Jain, who received his India cap from Ravindra Jadeja during the team huddle; Saransh replaced Kuldeep Yadav, who missed out due to an infection. Sri Lanka’s XI listed Kamil Mishara (on Test debut) and Pasindu Sooriyabandara in, with Nishan Madushka and Dinesh Chandimal omitted.

This fixture is the second and final Test of the series at the SSC, with India having elected to bat first and Jaiswal and Rahul at the crease as India build their first-innings score.