Pasindu Sooriyabandara was on 92 and had spent much of the fourth afternoon refusing to let India’s spinners settle. He swept, reverse-swept and used his feet against Manav Suthar, helping Sri Lanka chip away at the 213-run deficit and forcing Shubman Gill to keep changing his fields.

Then Gill went to Suthar with an idea. Sooriyabandara, he felt, might come down the pitch. Suthar saw him advance, floated the ball wider, and Rishabh Pant completed the stumping.

“I spoke with the captain, and he told me that maybe he could step out. So I was ready for that. All kudos to the captain as well because he told me that maybe he could step out. As soon as I bowled that ball, he stepped out, and I got the wicket,” Suthar said later.

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It was only one delivery in a series India won 1-0, but it said something about Gill’s captaincy. He changed bowlers, moved fields and kept searching for ways to dismiss batsmen. With three spinners in both Tests, that tendency showed in how he handled them.

Sometimes, as with Sooriyabandara, the change brought a wicket. During Sri Lanka’s resistance on the final day in Colombo, India kept searching but did not find regular breakthroughs.

The difference between Galle and Colombo gave Gill plenty to think about. His approach worked at Galle and produced moments such as Sooriyabandara’s dismissal in Colombo, but there were also stretches when changing things did not lead to anything. For a young captain, one of the harder parts of the job will be knowing when to make a change and when to trust a bowler or a plan for longer.

Gill also did not seem to have a fixed order among his three spinners. At Galle, Suthar was brought on in the eighth over of the first innings, ahead of Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja.

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He was given long spells and attacking fields, with slip, short leg and leg gully used at different stages. The preference was even clearer in the second innings. Suthar took the new ball and bowled 23.4 overs, Jadeja 23 and Kuldeep only 11.

Suthar finished with ten wickets at Galle. By the end of the series, Gill was calling him “the pick of our bowlers” and his “go-to bowler”.

“Even when things are not happening, he’s been our go-to bowler,” Gill said. “He’s created chances, which is what I want as a captain.”

That was something Gill clearly valued: the feeling that a bowler was always capable of creating an opportunity. Suthar provided that more consistently than the others.

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Gill went to Suthar with an idea. Sooriyabandara, he felt, might come down the pitch. Suthar saw him advance, floated the ball wider, and Rishabh Pant completed the stumping.

Colombo was a different story. Kuldeep’s illness brought Saransh Jain into the XI, but Gill showed similar trust in the debutant.

He came on in the 11th over with slip and leg slip. As Gill spoke to him, a short leg was added, before two slips and a short leg were stationed for Kamindu Mendis.

Jadeja had an 11-over spell, while Suthar and Jain also bowled extensively. Gill said the rotation kept all three fresh because tired fingers meant fewer revolutions.

“Spinners especially — we take them for granted — but their fingers also get tired. As you keep bowling, you don’t get the same revs that you get when you’re fresh. The idea behind having three spinners was to rotate them consistently,” he said.

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After India enforced the follow-on, Sooriyabandara and Mendis attacked the spinners with sweeps, reverse sweeps and advances down the pitch. By the 43rd over, India had spread the field for Suthar, who was bowling over the wicket and well outside leg. Sooriyabandara slog-swept him for six.

Gill went back to pace. Prasidh Krishna returned with a short-ball plan and, on the first ball, Mendis miscued a pull that the skipper ran back and caught superbly. It captured Gill’s instinct as captain: if one plan stopped working, try another.

Limitations exposed

Colombo, though, also showed the limits of that approach. Against Sonal Dinusha and the lower order, Gill rotated his spinners, changed fields and returned to pace without finding regular breakthroughs.


By the end, Suthar had bowled 41 overs in the innings, Jadeja 38.3 and Jain 37.

Gill felt the slow turn with bounce on the SSC surface had taken bowled and lbw out of the equation. Against batsmen intent on survival, the changes were made to manufacture a chance rather than waiting for one to arrive.

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“Our thinking was that if we keep changing the bowlers, it gives us a better chance of taking wickets,” Gill said. “Once the batsman is set and we feel we’re not creating enough opportunities, we have to rotate.”

He will have more opportunities to find the balance between when to attack and defend. India have seven Tests left in this WTC cycle — two in New Zealand and five at home against Australia.

New Zealand may test Gill’s handling of his fast bowlers. Against Australia at home, his use of the spinners could once again be crucial.

Sri Lanka was another part of his learning curve. The next seven Tests will show how quickly he can turn those lessons into better decisions — and whether those calls can help take India to another WTC final.