India vs Sri Lanka, 1st Test
Galle International Stadium, Galle
Sat, 15 Aug 2026
10:00 AM IST, 4:30 AM GMT
Pitch Report according to previous Records:
The Galle International Stadium pitch is a slow, turning sub-continental track that heavily favors spin bowlers, deteriorates rapidly over five days, and traditionally rewards teams that choose to bat first.
Official Live Pitch Report:
Sanjay Manjrekar: Teams have scored 600 after winning the toss and batting first, and sometimes they have also been bowled out for 120. So clearly, there are two types of pitches here. The one today is looking very good to me. It looks as if the entire pitch is covered with grass, so there are no rough or patchy areas. If you look at it, the pitch has a very beautiful appearance, which makes me feel that batting should be relatively easy. This is not a rank turner, so let me make that clear first. If you win the toss, you would want to bat first, but for the first 30-40 minutes, you will have to play carefully against the seamers because the pitch hasn't yet lost its colour, which means there is still a little bit of moisture. Whenever there is grass, you can get some lateral movement simply because of the green grass.So this is a pitch where you want to bat first and put up a big score, because batting in the fourth innings in Galle is very difficult. the average score here is around 120-130. So the toss is very important, as always, and both teams will want to bat first and make the most of this beautiful pitch.
Galle International Stadium Test Matches Records:
Last 4 Test matches 1st inn avg score: 455
Last 4 Test matches 2nd inn avg score: 252
Last 4 Test matches 3rd inn avg score: 270
Last 4 Test matches 4th inn avg score: 223
Last 4 Test matches win records: bowl first 1 - 3 bat first
IND vs SL Head to Head in last 5 Tests:
India 5 - 0 Sri Lanka