India’s last Test rubber win abroad was against the West Indies in July 2023. Since then, India lost to Australia and shared the series with South Africa and England away from home. In this interim, the defeats at home against New Zealand and South Africa also dimmed the halo around this Indian Test outfit.
Substantial knocks from skipper Shubman Gill and opener Yashasvi Jaiswal will fill the remaining blank columns as India push for their first overseas Test series victory in three years during the second and final match against Sri Lanka, starting in Colombo on Sunday.
India’s last Test rubber win abroad was against the West Indies in July 2023. Since then, India lost to Australia and shared the series with South Africa and England away from home.
But Gill’s side regained some ground with a 165-run romp in the first Test at Galle, where Sri Lankan spinners often spun a web around visiting batters. If India happen to complete a 2-0 clean sweep, they will have a chance to go up to the fourth spot in the World Test Championship (WTC) rankings with 57.58 percentage points. As the skipper, Gill has managed to score 1100 runs in 10 Tests at an average of over 73, a remarkable leap from 1893 runs from 32 Tests at 35 before taking over the team’s reins. But the 24-year-old was equal to the task, letting the balls go past the stumps harmlessly.
The Galle win has certainly released a pressure valve around the team. Despite the inexperience in the Sri Lankan ranks, the result might have come as a relief for the team and head coach Gautam Gambhir after two shattering home defeats against New Zealand and South Africa. On the periphery, Gill appears in solid touch, having scored two hundreds in his last six innings. Now, if he can filter that restraint to the real match atmosphere then another big score might be there for his taking.
