Achaotic collision resulted in a bizarre run-out for opener Yashasvi Jaiswal on Day 1 of the first Test between Sri Lanka and India in Galle on Saturday, cutting short a promising start for the Indian opener.
Cruising on 32, Jaiswal was at the non-striker’s end in the 11th over when KL Rahul stroked a flighted delivery from off-spinner Keshara Nuwantha toward mid-on and called for a quick single.
How Yashasvi Jaiswal was dismissed
Yashasvi Jaiswal set off immediately, but disaster struck when Nuwantha made a diving effort to stop the ball, causing Nuwantha and Jaiswal to collide.
Though Jaiswal scrambled back to his feet in a bid to complete the run, Rahul had already charged into the non-striker’s crease, leaving both batters stranded at the same end.
Realising there was no room for him, Jaiswal aborted his run and tried to return to safety, but it was too late.
Sri Lanka’s Prabath Jayasurya quickly caught hold of the ball, and lobbed it towards wicketkeeper Niroshan Dickwella, who whipped off the bails to end Jaiswal’s innings in unfortunate fashion. According to the replays, Rahul was the first to ground his bat, which eventually resulted in Jaiswal’s dismissal.
Following Jaiswal’s dismissal, Devdutt Padikkal joined KL Rahul at No.3. At the time of writing this report, India were 76/1 after 19 overs after having earlier won the toss and opted to bat.
Jaiswal had a mixed outing in India’s practice match against Sri Lanka Cricket XI in Colombo last week. The 24-year-old was dismissed for a two-ball duck in the first innings of the practice match, but bounced back strongly in the second innings after he scored an unbeaten 61 from just 46 deliveries.
The ongoing Test will be followed by the second Test that will be played in Colombo’s Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) from 23 August. Both the Tests are part of the 2025-26 World Test Championship (WTC) cycle, wherein India are placed fifth and Sri Lanka are in sixth place currently.
India will hope that KL Rahul and Devdutt Padikkal be able to forge a strong partnership. Padikkal, in fact, is coming into this match on the back of an unbeaten knock of 142 in the practice match against Sri Lanka Cricket XI.
India are playing their first Test series in Sri Lanka since 2017, when the visitors, then led by Virat Kohli, completed a 3-0 series sweep.