Sri Lanka still doesn’t have a confirmed answer, because selectors have not yet named a squad specifically for the second Test. The group announced before this series covered only the Galle opener, leaving two batting spots open with the second match starting on Sunday. Niroshan Dickwella already proved his worth as cover in the first Test, and Pasindu Sooriyabandara remains in the frame after deputising for Chandimal, but nothing has been locked in publicly yet, and selectors appear to be weighing their options carefully before Sunday’s toss.
The Injuries Draining Sri Lanka’s Middle Order
Kusal Mendis picked up a right hamstring injury taking a run for Colombo Kaps against Kandy Royals in a Lanka Premier League match at the SSC Ground on July 19. He has been rehabilitating at the National High Performance Centre since and hasn’t featured in a single competitive match across the weeks that followed. Head coach Gary Kirsten described it as a proper hamstring problem that will keep Mendis sidelined for a while yet, language that suggests this is not a short-term absence.
Dinesh Chandimal’s issue arrived far more suddenly. He hurt his neck and shoulder while fielding on day four in Galle and was replaced under the concussion protocol by Pasindu Sooriyabandara, who made a first-ball duck on his Test debut in unusual circumstances. That substitution automatically rules Chandimal out here too, since ICC regulations bar concussion replacements from playing again for seven days, a technicality that costs Sri Lanka their most experienced middle-order option.
Kusal Mendis & Chandimal Colombo Test Replacement
With no fresh squad confirmed, Sri Lanka’s selectors are working from the same 16 names picked for Galle, minus whoever fitness rules out. That group was led by Dhananjaya de Silva as captain and Kamindu Mendis as his deputy, alongside Lahiru Udara, Nishan Madushka, Ramesh Mendis, Prabath Jayasuriya, and the pace trio of Asitha Fernando, Lahiru Kumara and Vishwa Fernando, plus wicketkeeper Niroshan Dickwella. Pasindu Sooriyabandara and Keshara Nuwantha were the uncapped additions to that original group, while Kasun Rajitha and Isitha Wijesundara were dropped from the earlier provisional list before a ball was bowled in this series.
Anjala Bandara offers the clearest alternative if selectors want fresh legs behind the stumps for Colombo. He lost out to Dickwella for the Galle Test but kept wicket for the Sri Lanka side in the warm-up fixture against India at the NCC Ground in Colombo, staying sharp and visible to selectors while waiting for his opportunity to arrive.
Pathum Nissanka’s Race Against Time
Pathum Nissanka has been absent from this series entirely while recovering from wrist surgery he underwent in London back in July. He is considered unlikely to be fit for Sunday’s start, having already missed the whole of the Galle Test through the same issue, a frustrating stretch for a player who was a fixture in the top order before his injury.
Nissanka is understood to be closer to full fitness than Mendis, but he is still clearly feeling discomfort when batting. That nuance matters, because a batter who can field but not trust his hands at the crease is no genuine option for a five-day match, and it likely pushes any realistic comeback beyond this Colombo fixture entirely, possibly into the tour’s closing weeks.
Familiar Faces Ready To Step In
Dickwella has already answered part of the selection question himself. Recalled for the first time since a 2023 Test against New Zealand in Christchurch, the 54-cap veteran top-scored with 80 off 115 balls in Galle before falling to Prasidh Krishna, caught behind attempting to force the pace in the final session.
He wasn’t alone in making a case. Sonal Dinusha put together a fifty-plus stand with Dickwella in that same innings, with both men reaching individual half-centuries in a partnership that briefly steadied a wobbling scorecard. Sooriyabandara looks likely to retain his spot in the XI regardless of who else joins the squad, having handled a forced Test debut with composure. Between Dickwella’s runs, Dinusha’s application and Sooriyabandara’s live Test experience as a concussion substitute, Sri Lanka already have three players who have shown something under pressure, even before the Kusal Mendis & Chandimal Colombo Test replacement question is finally settled ahead of Sunday’s opening session.
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