IND vs SL 2nd Test: Kuldeep Misses Out, Saransh Jain Makes Debut As Shubman Gill Chooses To Bat; Check Playing XIs

India captain Shubman Gill won the toss and opted to bat first against Sri Lanka in the second Test at inhalese Sports Club (SSC) Ground in Colombo, on Sunday. The match marks another important occasion for the Indian team, with Saransh Jain receiving his maiden Test cap and making his international debut.

India arrived in Sri Lanka looking to get their World Test Championship campaign back on track, with nine Tests remaining before the series and a need to win around seven of them to give themselves a strong chance of qualifying for the final.

They made an ideal start by beating Sri Lanka by 165 runs in Galle and now head to the SSC with momentum and an opportunity to clinch the series 2-0.

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Captain's At Toss

Dhananjaya de Silva (SL captain): [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 (India captain): 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.

Pitch Report

Sanjay Manjrekar expects another high-scoring encounter at the SSC, with the surface traditionally offering plenty of runs to teams batting first as well as those chasing.

According to Manjrekar, the curator has followed a similar approach to the one used in Galle, covering the surface with a substantial amount of grass to hold the soil together. However, unlike the previous Test, the grass has a little more greenery and appears more live.

While the presence of grass should not be interpreted as a pitch tailor-made for seamers, the new-ball bowlers could get some assistance during the first 30 minutes to an hour. Despite that, the expectation remains that captains winning the toss will prefer to bat first.

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IND vs SL 2nd Test Playing XIs

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