By Marlon Dale Ferreira
Sri Lanka were staring down the barrel at 90 for five before Sonal Dinusha’s maiden Test century and Niroshan Dickwella’s gritty 80 dragged them past the follow-on. But for Dickwella, a 23rd Test fifty only extended an unwanted world record as that elusive maiden hundred slipped away yet again.
GALLE, Sri Lanka — Sonal Dinusha produced the finest innings of his young Test career and Niroshan Dickwella added another fascinating chapter to one of cricket’s strangest batting records as Sri Lanka fought their way out of deep trouble against India on the third day of the opening Test in Galle.
Dinusha struck a magnificent maiden Test century, making 100 from 168 deliveries, while the returning Dickwella stroked 80 from 115 balls as the pair added a face-saving 146 runs for the sixth wicket after Sri Lanka had collapsed to 90 for five.
Their resistance did not wipe away India’s advantage. Far from it. Sri Lanka were eventually dismissed for 284, leaving India with a sizeable 178-run first-innings lead after the tourists had made 462. However, the partnership gave the hosts something they desperately needed: hope.
More importantly, it dragged Sri Lanka from the brink of humiliation and put them within striking distance of avoiding the follow-on. Dickwella departed with the score at 236, but Dinusha remained long enough to guide Sri Lanka beyond the 263 required before eventually becoming the ninth man out.
Rain then brought the day to a premature end before India could begin their second innings.
Dinusha Turns Crisis Into Maiden Century
Sri Lanka’s problems began almost immediately after India added just two runs to their overnight 460 for nine.
Mohammed Siraj then struck with the new ball, removing Nishan Fernando for a two-ball duck. Manav Suthar made an immediate impact when his very first delivery accounted for Dinesh Chandimal for four.
Lahiru Udara made 27 and Kamindu Mendis 14, but both departed before captain Dhananjaya de Silva fell for 21.
Suddenly, Sri Lanka were 90 for five and facing the very real prospect of being asked to follow on.
That was when Dinusha and Dickwella changed the complexion of the innings.
Dinusha was the more measured of the pair. He absorbed pressure, trusted his defence and refused to become distracted by the rapidly deteriorating scoreboard around him.
His reward was a maiden Test hundred in only his fourth Test, brought up from 167 deliveries before he was eventually dismissed for exactly 100 from 168 balls, having struck four boundaries and two sixes.
It was an innings of enormous value, not merely because of the milestone but because of the circumstances under which it was compiled.
Dickwella Grunts and Snorts His Way to Yet Another Fifty
At the other end came the considerably more experienced Dickwella, grunting, hustling and at times seemingly snorting his way through another Test fifty, while reading the lengths and lines offered by India’s bowlers with considerably greater care than some of the deliveries Sri Lanka’s top order had misjudged.
There were sweeps, nudges, quick hands and the familiar willingness to manufacture runs from deliveries other batters might simply have defended.
The left-hander struck seven fours in his 80 from 115 balls, providing the scoring momentum while Dinusha held the innings together.
And for Dickwella, those “lines” carried another irony.
His latest international comeback follows one of the more controversial episodes of his career. Dickwella was provisionally suspended in August 2024 after failing a Sri Lanka Anti-Doping Agency test during the Lanka Premier League. He was subsequently handed a three-year suspension for an anti-doping violation involving a prohibited Substance of Abuse.
Published reports in Sri Lanka subsequently identified the substance as cocaine. Dickwella appealed, submitting evidence that the substance had been consumed out of competition and that its use was unrelated to enhancing sporting performance.
His three-year sanction was consequently reduced to three months, and he was cleared to return to cricket in December 2024.
That was not Dickwella’s first suspension.
In 2017, the ICC suspended him for two limited-overs matches after accumulating five demerit points following Code of Conduct breaches.
Then, in 2021, Dickwella, Kusal Mendis and Danushka Gunathilaka were suspended after breaching Sri Lanka’s COVID-19 bio-secure bubble during the tour of England. Dickwella received a one-year international suspension, although Sri Lanka Cricket subsequently lifted the punishment early in January 2022.
Yet throughout all of that controversy, another statistic has stubbornly followed him.
23 Test Fifties — And Still No Hundred
Dickwella entered this Test having played 54 matches, scoring 2,757 runs at an average of 30.97, with 22 half-centuries and a highest score of 96.
No century.
His 80 in Galle therefore becomes his 23rd Test half-century in his 55th Test.
It also extends an unwanted world record.
Dickwella has now scored more Test half-centuries than any batter in the history of the game who has never converted one into a century.
Twenty-three times he has passed 50.
Twenty-three times the elusive three-figure score has failed to materialise.
His 80 also takes his Test aggregate to 2,837 runs, while that career-best 96 remains tantalisingly untouched. Before this match, ESPNcricinfo listed him second among players for the most Test runs without a century, with his 2,757 runs accumulated across his first 54 matches.
Once again in Galle, the ingredients appeared to be there.
Dickwella was seeing the ball well. He had negotiated India’s spinners, survived the difficult period and reached 80 with a century suddenly only 20 runs away.
But once again the line between fifty and a hundred proved impossible to cross.
Prasidh Krishna found the breakthrough after tea, Dickwella edging behind for 80 and walking away with another substantial contribution, another missed opportunity and another extension to a record he would surely prefer somebody else to own.
India Still Firmly in Control
Dickwella’s dismissal finally broke the resistance.
India’s spinners then returned to finish the job.
Manav Suthar was the most successful bowler, taking 4 for 76, while Ravindra Jadeja returned 3 for 57. Jadeja’s dismissal of debutant Keshara Nuwantha also brought him his 350th Test wicket.
India’s first innings had earlier been built around Devdutt Padikkal’s outstanding 167, his maiden Test hundred, supported by KL Rahul’s 82 and Dhruv Jurel’s 51.
Prabath Jayasuriya finished with 4 for 109 for Sri Lanka, while debutant Keshara Nuwantha claimed 3 for 175.
Sri Lanka therefore remain a long way from parity.
But from 90 for five and staring at the follow-on, Dinusha and Dickwella at least ensured there was still a contest to discuss when the rain arrived.
Dinusha left with the satisfaction of a maiden Test century.
Dickwella walked away with 80, a 23rd half-century, and that elusive maiden Test hundred still stubbornly waiting somewhere down the line.
Match Position — Close of Day Three
India 1st innings: 462 all out (116.4 overs)
Devdutt Padikkal 167
KL Rahul 82
Dhruv Jurel 51
Rishabh Pant 39
Prabath Jayasuriya 4/109
Keshara Nuwantha 3/175
Sri Lanka 1st innings: 284 all out (79.4 overs)
Sonal Dinusha 100
Niroshan Dickwella 80
Lahiru Udara 27
Dhananjaya de Silva 21
Manav Suthar 4/76
Ravindra Jadeja 3/57
India lead by 178 runs.
Day Three: Rain prevented India from beginning their second innings after Sri Lanka were dismissed.
