At a picture-postcard venue, India preferred to sweat it out. Shubman Gill’s men buckled down at the nets, focusing on their training in the lead-up to the first Test, which is set to commence in Galle over the weekend. Around them, the Galle International Stadium was being spruced up while broadcast crews busily set up their equipment on Thursday (August 13, 2026).

The odd sorties with a football and fielding drills were the preferred initial exercises. The think tank of coach Gautam Gambhir, captain Gill and chief selector Ajit Agarkar looked at the pitch, which was a dull shade of brown in contrast to the lush green outfield.

The focus in catching emphasised being ambidextrous, as fielders were encouraged to make one-handed catches with either hand. Reactions to the ricochet effect when a ball deflects off the stumps were also sharpened, as fielding coach Subhadeep Ghosh maintained intensity.

Later the players trooped into the adjacent nets, and openers K.L. Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal countered the usual medley of pace, spin and throw-downs. Rishabh Pant, Dhruv Jurel, Shubman Gill and Devdutt Padikkal also had their stints. These batters could well be in the top-six for India, while Sarfaraz Khan, who replaced the injured Sai Sudarshan in the squad, also participated.

Among the bowlers, Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna led the seamers, while Kuldeep Yadav turned his arm over in the spinners’ corner. Perhaps in their effort to gain that extra yard of pace, some of India’s speedsters overstepped in their final delivery stride. Hopefully this aberration will not be repeated against the Sri Lankans.

When the afternoon sun intensified the heat, Pant worked on his wicket-keeping drills with a tennis ball. Gradually, all the players sought relief in the air-conditioned dressing room while some tourists busied themselves flying kites from the nearby Dutch fort.