2nd Test XI Changes: Saransh Jain Debuts for India, Sri Lanka Field Mishara and Sooriyabandara

Both India and Sri Lanka have made changes to their playing XIs for the second and final Test of the series at the SSC in Colombo, with the hosts forced into reshuffles through injury and India opting for a like-for-like spin swap.

India have made one change, bringing in off-spin all-rounder Saransh Jain for his Test debut in place of Kuldeep Yadav. Kuldeep had a relatively quiet outing with the ball in Galle, and despite public backing from spin bowling coach Sairaj Bahutule during the buildup, the team management has opted to hand Jain his first cap. The rest of the winning combination from Galle has been retained, with Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Devdutt Padikkal, captain Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel, Manav Suthar, Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna all keeping their places.

Sri Lanka have made two enforced changes to their XI. Kamil Mishara comes in for his first Test cap in place of Nishan Fernando, who had a quiet outing in Galle filling in for the injured Pathum Nissanka. The bigger change is enforced: Dinesh Chandimal misses out after entering concussion protocols following a blow sustained on day four in Galle, with the mandatory stand-down period ruling him out. Pasindu Sooriyabandara, who deputised for Chandimal as a concussion substitute in the first Test, has now been named in the starting XI on merit for Colombo. Sri Lanka remain without regular gloveman Kusal Mendis, sidelined by a hamstring injury, with Niroshan Dickwella continuing behind the stumps.

With Sri Lanka needing a win just to keep the series alive, the changes reflect a squad under pressure from both form and fitness, while India have shown faith in personnel by making only the one alteration to a side that delivered a convincing 165-run win in the series opener.