An exciting red-ball battle between the two traditional superpowers of South Asian cricket—India and Sri Lanka—has begun. The Indian cricket team has come to play a Test series on Sri Lankan soil after a long gap of 9 years. Earlier, India had toured Sri Lanka under the leadership of Virat Kohli in 2017, where Team India registered a historic clean sweep of 3-0. However, this time the form of the Indian camp has completely changed. After the withdrawal of senior players from the Test format, young batsman Shubman Gill has been given the command of the Indian Test team.
On this tour, the young brigade of the Indian team not only faces the challenge of proving their technique on the turning pitches of the Asian subcontinent, but also has the big responsibility of maintaining their position in the race for the final of the ICC World Test Championship (WTC). On the other hand, the Sri Lankan team, which has always proved dangerous on their home grounds, is all set to give a tough fight to India under the leadership of captain Dhananjay de Silva on the spin-friendly grounds of Galle and Colombo.
Grand match in Galle and Colombo: Know the schedule and live telecast of the test series
Released by The Economic Times India vs Sri Lanka Test Series Schedule According to, two matches have been decided in this test series:
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First Test match (15 August – 19 August): Galle International Cricket Stadium, Galle (10:00 AM IST).
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Second Test match (23 August – 27 August): Sinhala Sports Club (SSC), Colombo (10:00 am IST).
For Indian cricket fans, the live telecast of this entire Test series is being made available on TV on Sony Sports Network (Sony Sports Ten 3 Hindi and Ten 5 English), while digital streaming can be seen live on SonyLIV app.
India's dominance in head-to-head: History of 46 Tests and the maze of Galle
The history of Test cricket between India and Sri Lanka began in 1982, when the first official Test match was played between the two countries. awakening of enthusiasm India vs Sri Lanka Test Head-to-Head Stats According to detailed statistics, a total of 46 Test matches have been played between the two teams so far:
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Total test matches: 46
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India's victory: 22 matches (47.8% winning rate)
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Sri Lanka's victory: 7 matches (15.2% winning rate)
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Draw matches: 17 matches
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Records on Sri Lankan soil: India has won 9 Tests in Sri Lanka, while Sri Lanka has won 7 matches against India at home.
Although India seems to have the upper hand in overall statistics, the ground of Galle International Stadium has always been an impenetrable fort for the visiting batsmen. The Galle pitch starts taking a terrible turn from the third day, where the Sri Lankan spinners have the ability to destroy the world's greatest batting lineup.
World Test Championship (WTC) battle: Every point is precious on the way to the final
of live mint WTC Standings & Series Preview Report According to ICC, this bilateral series is not limited to just winning the trophy, but it is a question of the credibility of both the teams in the ICC World Test Championship 2025-27 cycle.
The Indian team is currently ranked 5th in the WTC points table, where its Points Percentage (PCT) is around 48.15%. Whereas Sri Lankan team is present at sixth position with 41.67% PCT. India desperately needs this 2-0 series win to stay in the race for the WTC final to be held at Lord's. Defeat or draw in any one match can cause huge damage to the points percentage of Team India, which will increase the pressure in the upcoming series.
Sachin's 1995 runs and Muralitharan's 105 wickets: immortal records of this rivalry
The Test matches between India and Sri Lanka have given many historic individual and team records to the cricket world:
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Most runs (Sachin Tendulkar): Sachin Tendulkar, who is called the God of Cricket, is the batsman who has scored the most runs in this rivalry. He has scored a total of 1,995 runs in 25 Test matches against Sri Lanka with the help of 9 centuries and 6 half-centuries.
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Most wickets (Muttiah Muralitharan): Magic off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan has taken a record 105 wickets in 22 Test matches against India, including 5 or more wickets in an innings 7 times.
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Most runs in a series (Virat Kohli): In 2017-18, Virat Kohli scored 610 runs at an incredible average of 152.50 in the 3-Test series against Sri Lanka, which included 3 centuries.
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Highest individual score (Sanath Jayasuriya): Sanath Jayasuriya played a marathon inning of 340 runs against India in the historic Colombo Test of 1997.
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Highest team score: In the same 1997 match, Sri Lanka had declared the innings against India by scoring 952 runs for 6 wickets, which is the highest team total so far in the history of Test cricket.
Spin of Gill, Jaiswal and Pant vs Jayasuriya: Main weapons of both teams
The backbone of Indian batting currently rests on the shoulders of young opener Yashasvi Jaiswal, captain Shubhman Gill, KL Rahul and wicketkeeper batsman Rishabh Pant. Rishabh Pant's aggressive batting on spin-friendly pitches and Ravindra Jadeja's all-round experience will prove to be most important in turning the tide of the match. In bowling, India is relying on the wrist spin of Kuldeep Yadav and reverse swing of Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna.
In the Sri Lankan camp, their main left-arm spinner Prabhat Jayasuriya and off-spinner Ramesh Mendis are the biggest threats on the pitch. In batting, captain Dhananjay de Silva, Dinesh Chandimal and in-form Kamindu Mendis are seriously testing the patience of the Indian bowlers.
Conclusion: Will the new Team India be able to repeat history in Galle?
In the challenging conditions of Galle, the footwork of the Indian batsmen against spin and the constant pressure exerted by the Indian spinners on the right line-length will decide the outcome of this Test series. While Sri Lanka is looking to beat India on the basis of its home record, Shubman Gill's young Indian team would like to prove by winning this tour that they are fully capable of carrying forward the golden era of Indian Test cricket even on foreign pitches.