Former India batter Sadagoppan Ramesh has said India paid for Jasprit Bumrah’s absence in Colombo, where Sri Lanka’s lower order batted out the final day to secure a draw.
Under Shubman Gill, India won the two-match series 1-0, but the drawn Test denied them a clean sweep.
A resilient tail
Sri Lanka’s batters from No. 8 to No. 11 faced 292 balls between them, which proved decisive. Ramesh, speaking on Instagram, said Sonal Dinusha should be set aside as an outstanding batter, but asked how India could not remove the other tail-enders, calling it a sign of poor bowling. He had said before the series that India would miss Bumrah, and felt the fast bowler would have finished off the tail on day five.
Bumrah’s absence
Bumrah was ruled out of the series with a left knee injury sustained during the T20 World Cup, and the BCCI medical team advised against rushing his return. Auqib Nabi was added to the squad as his replacement.
Ramesh felt India missed a golden chance of a whitewash, needing only four wickets on the last day. He said even a 1-0 win was disappointing, and described the bowling as substandard because three tail-enders besides Dinusha survived.
WTC implications
The draw also complicates India’s path in the 2025-27 World Test Championship. Ramesh said India’s chances of reaching the final were already slim and are now effectively gone, as they would need to win six of their remaining seven matches. He called that impossible and laid the blame on India’s bowling rather than Sri Lanka.
