India will start their two-match Test series against Sri Lanka on Saturday, August 15, with the series opener taking place at the Galle International Stadium. The action will then move to Colombo, where the two sides will meet for the second and final Test at the Sinhalese Sports Club.
During India's early Test assignments in Sri Lanka, games were largely staged in Colombo and Kandy before Galle International Stadium in 2001, and the ground has since become a regular destination whenever the team has toured Sri Lanka for the longest format.
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So far India's record at Galle has been a mixed one, with the visitors clinching two wins and enduring three losses across their five Test appearances at the iconic venue. However, their most recent outing at the venue ended on a positive note, as India claimed a dominating win under Virat Kohli's leadership.
India vs Sri Lanka, Galle Test 2017
After winning the toss, then-captain Virat Kohli chose to bat first. Indfia endured an early setback when Abhinav Mukund lost his wicket in the eighth over, but Shikhar Dhawan and Cheteshwar Pujara quickly turned the momentum in the visitors' favour. Dhawan smashed a superb knock of 190 while Pujara contributed 153, with the pair stitching a partnership of 253 runs.
India continued to pile on the runs after reaching 286/3, with Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane, who scored a brilliant half-century, building a partnership of 137 runs for the fourth wicket. Later, India posted a big first-innings total of 600.
Sri Lanka struggled to showcase a similar batting performance and were dismissed for 291. Upal Tharanga, Angelo Mathews and Dilruwan Perera registered fifty-plus scores. Ravindra Jadeja led India's bowling with three scalps.
Despite holding a massive first-innings lead, India decided against enforcing the follow-on and returned to bat. Abhinav Mukund bounced back with an impressive 81, while Virat Kohli smashed an iconic 103 as the visitors declared their second innings at 240/3, asking Sri Lanka to chase a daunting target of 550.
The hosts never threatened the chase and were dismissed for 245. Dimiuth Karunaratne and Niroshan Dickwella registered half-centuries, but Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin clinched three wickets each to seal a dominating win for India.