India remain on course to beat Sri Lanka comfortably in the first of two Tests, after they batted through a shortened second day in rain-stricken Galle.

After wet weather reduced Saturday's play to 73 overs, only 43 were possible on Sunday, with the first half of the day being completely washed out.

And Sri Lanka could not make any meaningful inroads in the time they did have with the ball, with India reaching stumps at 460-9 in their first innings.

That was despite a much stronger performance from Keshara Nuwantha, who had proven expensive on his first day of red-ball action but took three of the first four wickets to fall on day two.

Nuwantha removed Rishabh Pant (39), KL Rahul (82) and Ravindra Jadeja (13), while Devdutt Padikkal was stumped by Niroshan Dickwella off Prabath Jayasuriya's bowling, having reached 167 after making his first Test century on the opening day. 

 Runs
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 Six

That was a top-tier knock from Devdutt Padikkal  

Scorecard  https://t.co/WHXkfnivbw#TeamIndia | #SLvIND pic.twitter.com/nJRvxurRBt

— BCCI (@BCCI) August 16, 2026

India were at 377-6 following that quartet of dismissals, and a quick 51 from Dhruv Jurel helped them tack on further runs before he fell victim to a wonderful one-handed catch from Dhananjaya de Silva.

Sri Lanka were unable to claim the final Indian wicket before stumps, though Jayasuriya did bring up his fourth of the match by having Manav Suthar (24) caught by Lahiru Igalagamage at long-on.

Smooth sailing for India

With rain limiting play once again, the prospect of India managing to bat through to the start of day three became far more realistic.

The tourists will be content with their work on day two, having scored precisely four runs an over and tacked on 172 to their first-innings score. 

Jurel's 51 off 68 came at a strike rate of 75.00 – the best of any India batter in this innings other than opener Yashasvi Jaiswal (86.48, 32 off 37).

India will also perhaps be encouraged by the way the pitch began to act late in the day, with Jayasuriya getting his delivery to turn when De Silva made his highlight-reel catch.

The visiting spinners will hope to get similar joy on Monday, when they may be thinking about skittling Sri Lanka quickly and enforcing the follow-on.