India vs Sri Lanka, 2nd Test
Sinhalese Sports Club, Colombo
Sun, 23 Aug 2026
10:00 AM IST, 4:30 AM GMT
Pitch Report according to previous Records:
The pitch at the Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) in Colombo traditionally favors batters early on before offering significant turn and variable bounce for spinners as the match progresses. Offers true bounce and good carry in the first couple of days, allowing batters to play their strokes reliably. Becomes dry and worn as the game moves forward, bringing spinners heavily into play with variable wear-and-tear.
Official Live Pitch Report:
We expect a run fest. You know, that is the trait of this pitch. It provides a lot of runs for team batting first, and so also maybe team batting second. Now, when I look at the surface for this Test match this morning, you can see it's the same approach from the curator, same curator in Galle, and he's got the same approach here as well. He's covered the entire surface with grass. The only difference is there is a little bit of greenery on this grass. It's not a green top, but a little more sort of live grass as opposed to in the last Test where it was completely dried grass. So I again see the same approach where they're trying to keep the soil together with a lot of grass on top, grass to hold it. So let's not talk about this as a pitch meant for seamers because there is grass. But because there is a little bit of live grass, as I said, teams winning the toss will bat first. There's no doubt about it. But the bowlers who bowl with the new ball might just get a little bit of help in the first half an hour, one hour, the cliched line that we always use. The interesting thing about this pitch is that teams batting first have won 16 times. Teams who have lost the toss, I guess, and batted second have also won 16 times. So this is one of those pitches. Very rarely you get this kind of a surface where winning the toss is not crucial. - Sanjay Manjrekar.
Sinhalese Sports Club Test Matches Records:
Last 3 Test matches 1st inn avg score: 203
Last 3 Test matches 2nd inn avg score: 491
Last 3 Test matches 3rd inn avg score: 205
Last 3 Test matches 4th inn avg score: 56
Last 3 Test matches win records: bowl first 3 - 0 bat first
IND vs SL Head to Head in last 6 Tests:
India 6 - 0 Sri Lanka