02 July,2026 06:51 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Shubman Gill (Pic: BCCI)
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Thursday announced the schedule for India's upcoming two-match Test series against Sri Lanka, set to take place from August 15 to 27.
The series opener will kick off at the Galle International Stadium on August 15. Following the first match, the action will move to Colombo, where the second Test is scheduled to begin on August 23 at the Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC). Both encounters are scheduled to start at 10:00 AM IST.
This bilateral series is a crucial fixture within the ongoing ICC World Test Championship 2025-27 cycle. The Indian team, captained by Shubman Gill, currently occupies the fifth spot on the leaderboard. India has secured four victories and endured four defeats across nine outings, holding a Points Percentage (PCT) of 48.150.
India won their recent one-off Test against Afghanistan with captain Shubman Gill scoring a magnificent century. Manav Suthar impressed on his debut, taking five wickets in the first innings as India raced to a win by an innings.
The Test match against Afghanistan was not part of the WTC schedule, and India did not win any points despite their win.
Before arriving in Sri Lanka, the Indian squad will participate in a three-match T20I series against Zimbabwe. This follow-up tour comes right after India's current multi-format tour in England, which features five T20Is and three ODIs.
In the ongoing English tour, the opening T20I clash at the Riverside Ground in Chester-le-Street was unfortunately washed out by rain. Despite the early end, the Indian batting unit gained valuable game time before rain halted play.
Opting to bat first after winning the toss, India faced early trouble as openers Sanju Samson and Ishan Kishan fell cheaply, which also pushed back the highly anticipated debut of youngster Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.
However, a fierce counter-offensive by Abhishek Sharma, who smashed a rapid 59 off just 24 deliveries, injected momentum back into the innings. Shreyas Iyer then provided stability with a well-measured 67, building crucial middle-order partnerships, while Shivam Dube's late fireworks (42 off 21 balls) guided India to a formidable total of 189/7 before rain played spoilsport.
