Stats: Dinusha leads Sri Lanka’s epic resistance in a gritty draw

Sri Lanka earn a famous draw

4 – This was just the fourth time that Sri Lanka managed to draw a Test after being asked to follow on in 28 matches, the last of which had come in Galle in 2010. The first two instances were against Zimbabwe in Bulawayo in 1994 and against England at Lord’s in 2006. They had lost all the previous eight against India.

216 – Sri Lanka managed a 216-run lead, their highest after following on in a Test match, surpassing 178 at Lord's in 2006. This was just the eighth instance of them getting into the lead while following on, and also the fourth time that they went past 400 across these 28 matches, after 537/9 at Lord’s in 2006, 475 at Chester-le-Street in 2016 and 407 in Christchurch in 2014.

6 – This was the sixth instance that India conceded a 200-plus lead in 43 Tests wherein they enforced a follow-on. 216 ranks third on this list, after 276 against Zimbabwe (503/6) in Nagpur in 2000 and 274 against England (497/5) in Kanpur in 1961.

6 – India’s six-match winning streak in Sri Lanka, which began in 2015, ended with this game. That’s now the joint-longest for a visiting team in the country, alongside as many for Australia (1999 to 2011) and England (2012 to 2021).

Dinusha leads Sri Lanka’s fightback

3 – Dinusha backed up his 103 in the first innings with 133* in the second, becoming only the third batter in Test cricket history to register hundreds in both innings of a Test for a side that was asked to follow-on. Vijay Hazare (116 and 145) was the first to do so, against Australia at Adelaide in 1948, before Andy Flower (142 and 199*) replicated that against South Africa in Harare in 2001.

5 – Dinusha became the fifth cricketer and the fourth from Sri Lanka to register twin hundreds in a Test match while batting at number six or lower.

Hundreds in both innings of a Test from No.6 or lower

8 – Dinusha became the eighth Sri Lanka batter to score hundreds in both innings of a Test after Aravinda de Silva (twice), Kumar Sangakkara (twice), Duleep Mendis, Asanka Gurusinha, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Dhananjaya de Silva and Kamindu Mendis.

Among those, Duleep Mendis (105 & 105 – Chennai, 1982) and Aravinda de Silva (146 & 120 – Colombo SSC, 1997) had achieved the feat against India previously. Overall, he’s the 12th batter to have got hundreds in both innings of a Test against India, just the second since January 2015, after Jonny Bairstow (106 & 114*) at Edgbaston in 2022.

112 – The partnership between Dinusha and Keshara Nuwantha was Sri Lanka’s third highest for the seventh wicket or lower while following on in Tests, after 137 between Romesh Kaluwitharana and Chaminda Vaas against New Zealand (Dunedin, 1997) and 116 between Dinesh Chandimal and Rangana Herath against England (Chester-le-Street, 2016).

150 balls faced by Keshara Nuwantha is the second-most by a Sri Lankan batter from No. 8 or lower while following on in Tests, after 188 by Chaminda Vaas (50*) at Lord’s in 2006. Overall, Sri Lanka's No. 8 to 11 faced 292 balls between them in the innings – the sixth most for the lower order while following on in Tests. For further context, Sri Lanka openers collectively faced 216 deliveries across the two Tests.

8 – Sonal Dinusha became the eighth batter to register three hundreds in a two-match Test series, the joint-most for anyone, and only the third for Sri Lanka after Aravinda de Silva (twice) and Kumar Sangakkara.

Most hundreds in a two-match Test series

1 – Dinusha is the third batter to have registered three hundreds across his first two Test matches against a particular Test opponent, after Herbert Sutcliffe (three against Australia) and Marnus Labuschagne (three against West Indies).

He is now the fifth player to register 50-plus scores in each of his first four Test innings against India after Douglas Jardine (1932-1934), Everton Weekes (1948), Clyde Walcott (1948) and Ken Barrington (1959). Jardine and Weekes went past 50 in each of their first five innings against India, the latter scoring four hundreds followed by a 90.

3 – Dinusha also became just the third Sri Lanka batter to go past 50 in all four innings of a two-match Test series. Kumar Sangakkara did that twice – against Bangladesh at home in 2013 and on the 2014 England tour, while Dimuth Karunaratne too got as many against South Africa at home in 2018.

606 runs aggregated by the left-hander in his five-Tests young career so far. That’s the second-highest aggregate for a Sri Lanka batter after first five Test appearances, only next to 631 by Kamindu Mendis. Dhananjaya de Silva (550) and Roy Dias (529) rank third and fourth respectively in this list.

173 runs aggregated by the left-hander while playing the sweep shots against spin across the two Tests (slog, conventional or reverse), without being dismissed. That’s the most for anyone in a Test series since January 2007, surpassing 160 by Joe Root during the 2021 Sri Lanka tour. No one else has aggregated over 120.

27% – Dinusha scored 110 off 196 against spin in the second innings of the Colombo Test, sweeping 27% of those deliveries. Among all the individual Test innings wherein a batter faced at least 150 balls of spin since 2007, that’s the second-highest sweep-shot percentage for anyone after 27.5% for Alex Carey during his 156 in Galle last year.