Gautam Gambhir praises India’s mental toughness
India head coach Gautam Gambhir on Friday praised his team’s mental resilience to keep fighting till the end of their two-Test series, while giving a “special shoutout” to Sri Lanka’s Sonal Dinusha.
While India crushed the hosts by 165 runs in the opening Test at Galle, Sri Lanka produced a remarkable fightback, particularly in the final innings and on the last day of the second Test at Colombo, with Dinusha leading their resistance. India took the series 1-0.
Dinusha produced a memorable performance as he struck a second century of the Test on Thursday to force a draw in Colombo, keeping India winless, who had earlier imposed a follow-on against Sri Lanka. “Test cricket needs character, patience and mental toughness that’s shown by our boys! Special shoutout to Sonal Dinusha for his exceptional performance!,” Gambhir wrote on X. After scoring 103 in Sri Lanka’s first innings, in which they were bowled out for 290 in reply to India’s 503 for nine declared, Dinusha stood tall in the second innings as well.
Dinusha remained unbeaten on 133 (264 balls; 8 fours, 2 sixes) while forging crucial late partnerships which denied India one last push to make it 2-0.
The century in the second innings also made Dinusha only the third player in history to make a ton in each innings of a Test after their side was asked to follow on. The feat was earlier achieved by India’s Vijay Hazare against Australia at Adelaide in 1948, and Andy Flower for Zimbabwe against South Africa at Harare in 2001. Dinusha also topped the batting charts with 420 runs in four outings as he had scored 100 and 84 in the first Test.
