By the time Sri Lanka decided to declare their second innings on day five after being asked to follow on in Colombo, Shubman Gill and India were rendered ineffective. Their dropped shoulders indicated that India had resigned to the outcome of a drawn Test, well before Sri Lanka’s lower-order had made it possible by a dogged rearguard led by Sonal Dinusha’s century.

The draw dented India’s chances in the ICC World Test Championship standings, with the team’s points percentage slipping to 51.53 at fifth place. Former India batter Mohammed Kaif, however, felt that the result would have been different if Virat Kohli was on the field.

Kaif insisted that the former India captain’s energies would have tilted the scales in their favour and that Gill’s side failed to exude similar qualities despite entering the final day’s play while in control of the match. Sri Lanka were leading by only 16 runs with four wickets in hand before Dinusha’s hundred and a lower-order resistance propelled the lead to 176 before the players shook hands.

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“Playing Tests isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, boss. It’s a very long game and you have to keep bowling continuously. I felt that if someone like Virat Kohli had been playing this match, he would have been constantly shouting and keeping his team switched on,” Kaif said on his YouTube channel.

“At times, I felt we took things for granted, thinking, ‘Just keep bowling, it will happen. The ball is turning so much, it will happen on its own,” Kaif said.

“We created very few things ourselves. Our energy levels were also very low. That is why I am saying, if Virat Kohli had been playing this Test, the result would have been different.

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Kaif lamented the lack in intensity from the fielders on the final day meant that India failed to find a moment of inspiration before hitting a wall.

“The reason is that he would have been telling everyone, ‘Come on, Sarfaraz, come on, Jaiswal’ and he would have gone after Sonal as well. Who were we getting into confrontations with? We were getting into confrontations with Kumara,” Kaif added.

Kohli, who led India to a record 40 wins in 68 matches between 2014 and 2022, retired from the format last year. Despite the draw, India won the series 1-0, with Gill’s securing his second series victory as Test captain.