New Delhi: The second and final match of the two-Test series between India and Sri Lanka has started at the historic Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) ground in Colombo. The Indian team, which had taken a 1-0 lead by registering a thumping win of 165 runs in the first Test played in Galle, has entered the field with the intention of winning this match and wiping out the host team. On the first day of the match, Indian captain Shubman Gill won the toss and decided to bat first. This match is considered very important for Team India, because the Indian team has not been able to win any Test series on foreign soil for the last three years. Apart from this, the team is also waiting for its first Test series win on foreign soil during the tenure of head coach Gautam Gambhir.
Saransh Jain's debut
The start of the Colombo Test brought a special moment for the Indian team, when 33-year-old off-spinner Saransh Jain got a chance to make his Test debut. Veteran all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja handed the debut cap to Saransh just before the match.
Out of 47 Test matches played so far between the two countries, India has won 23, while Sri Lanka has won only 7 matches and 17 matches have been drawn. The Sri Lankan team last defeated India in August 2015.
team combination
There is an excellent balance of young and experienced players in the Indian playing-11. Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Devdutt Padikkal and captain Shubman Gill are handling the responsibility in the top order. Dhruv Jurel and wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant have been included in the middle order. At the same time, the command of spin bowling is in the hands of Ravindra Jadeja, Manav Suthar and Saransh Jain, while the responsibility of fast bowling will be on Mohammad Siraj and Prasidh Krishna. The Sri Lankan team has also included strong players like Kamil Mishara, Lahiru Udara, captain Dhananjay de Silva and main spinner Prabhat Jayasuriya in its playing-11.
Captain Shubman Gill eyes big records
Indian captain Shubman Gill is targeting two big personal milestones as soon as he takes the field. In the current cycle of the World Test Championship (WTC), Gill is just 26 runs away from completing 1,000 runs. He has scored 974 runs in 9 matches of this cycle at an excellent average of 69.57. At present, only England's Joe Root (1174 runs) and Harry Brook (1147 runs) are ahead of him in this list. Apart from this, if Gill scores just 7 more runs in this match, he will also complete his 3,000 runs in Test cricket. In the 42 Test matches played so far, he has scored 2,993 runs with the help of 8 centuries and 11 half-centuries. If we look at historical data, India has dominated Sri Lanka in Test cricket.