Debutant Jayasuriya shines as Sri Lanka beat Australia by an innings and 39 runs in the 2nd Test

Spinner Prabath Jayasuriya spun a web to crush Australia by an innings and 39 runs in the 2nd Test to level the series 1-1 in Galle. For the first time, Sri Lanka beat Australia by the margin of an inning. This victory was much more than just a win for Sri Lanka as the country is suffering from financial and political instabilities. The Sri Lankan cricket team provided a moment of joy for the people in these tough times. Australia after the winning toss scored 364 runs with the help of centuries from Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne in their 1st innings. Sri Lanka scored 554 runs in reply to this and fetched a handy lead of 190 runs, thanks to a magnificent double hundred from Dinesh Chandimal (206*). He was well supported by skipper Dimuth Karunaratne, Kusal Mendis, Angelo Mathews, and Kamindu Mendis who all scored half-centuries and made heavy contributions to the total. Australia looked clueless in their 2nd innings and were all-out for just 151 runs.

Debutant Prabath Jayasuriya took 6 wickets for just 59 runs. He also took 6 wickets in the 1st innings. Dinesh Chandimal becomes the first Sri Lankan batter to score a double hundred against Australia. Heal also broke Kumar Sangakkara's record of highest individual score against the Aussies who scored 192 runs in 2007 in Hobart. No Aussie batter looked comfortable against the Sri Lankan spin attack and five of them couldn't even reach the double figures. Marnus Labuschagne was the highest run-scorer with 32. Khawaja scored 29, Warner managed to score 24 and Cameron Green was dismissed for just 23 runs. The centurion of the 1st innings Steve Smith was dismissed without opening his account. Jayasuriya has become the bowler to take most wickets for Sri Lanka on test debut. He broke the record of Praveen Jayawickrama who took 11 wickets on his debut test match against Bangladesh in 2020-21. India's Narendra Hirwani and Australia's Bob Massie hold the record for taking the most wickets (16 wickets) on test debut. 

With the conclusion of this match, Australia's tour to Sri Lanka came to an end. Australia won the T2OI series 2-1 but the hosts made a remarkable comeback in the ODIs to take the series 2-1. After losing the 1st test, Sri Lanka managed a memorable victory in the 2nd to level the series 1-1. Australia lost their 1st match of this WTC (World Test Championship) cycle as they won 6 and drew 3 out of 9 test matches they played. As a result, Australia has slipped to second in the WTC points table with 70% points. South Africa stands on top with 71.43% points followed by Pakistan (52.38%) at third and India (52.08%) at fourth place.