The second Test between India and Sri Lanka in Colombo ended in a draw on August 27, with the tourists winning the two-game series 1-0. Sri Lanka forced the draw after following on, with Sonal Dinusha scoring centuries in both innings of the Colombo Test to deny India a second victory and cost the visitors crucial World Test Championship points.
Former India captain Kris Srikkanth was sharply critical of the Indian team's showing in Colombo. He pointed to the missed opportunity and the broader consequences
for India's WTC campaign, singling out the absence of Jasprit Bumrah and the brilliance of Sonal Dinusha as the two defining factors behind India's failure to seal the win.
"India messed up big time. Sonal Dinusha was amazing throughout the series. This is where you miss a bowler like Bumrah. You need a finishing bowler like him. Though rain helped Sri Lanka a bit, India should have won the match hands down," Srikkanth said on his YouTube channel.
How does the Colombo draw affect India's WTC final hopes?
India's failure to win the second Test has made their path to the World Test Championship final considerably harder. The draw denied India a clean sweep of the series and left them short of points they could not afford to drop in the current WTC cycle, with seven matches remaining in their campaign.
Dinusha's contribution across the series was exceptional and central to Sri Lanka's resistance. He scored 103 and 84 in the first Test and followed that with 103 and an unbeaten 133 in Colombo, accumulating 423 runs across four innings in the series. Srikkanth acknowledged Dinusha's performance as a key reason India were unable to seal the win in the second Test.
What did Srikkanth say about the Border-Gavaskar series?
Beyond the immediate result, Srikkanth raised concerns about India's approach to the upcoming Border-Gavaskar series against Australia. He warned that preparing rank turning pitches for that series could backfire on the home side, arguing that Australia are fully capable of exploiting such conditions against India.
Srikkanth's view was that India cannot rely on pitch conditions alone to secure results against Australia, and that the home side must field their strongest attack to have any realistic chance of a series win.
"This draw will make it difficult for India to qualify for the WTC final. Even if India wins five or six of the last seven matches, they'll have to depend on other results. It's questionable if India can beat Australia 5-0 at home. If we give rank turners in that series, Australia can also beat India," he said.
Also Read: 'He would have definitely finished off Sri Lanka's tail-enders' - S Ramesh rues Bumrah's absence after Colombo draw
India now have seven matches remaining in the WTC cycle. According to Srikkanth, even winning five or six of those games may not be enough for automatic qualification, with other results needing to go India's way before they can secure a place in the WTC final.
