Kamindu Mendis Passes 1,500 Test Runs With 32 Before Jadeja Catch in Colombo

Kamindu Mendis reached 1,500 career Test runs and was dismissed for 32 on Tuesday, August 25, 2026, during the morning session on day three of the second Test against India at the Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) in Colombo. The Sri Lankan batter was caught by Ravindra Jadeja off Prasidh Krishna shortly before lunch, ending an 87-run fourth-wicket stand with debutant Pasindu Sooriyabandara as India maintained a commanding lead after declaring at 503 for nine.

Editor’s note: This article draws on PTI match reporting via News18, statistical analysis from NewsBytes, and ESPNcricinfo series coverage, August 25, 2026.

Milestone at a glance

Detail	Information
Match	India vs Sri Lanka — 2nd Test
Date	Tuesday, August 25, 2026
Venue	Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC), Colombo
Session	Morning session, day three
Mendis	32 (58 balls) — c Jadeja b Krishna
Milestone	1,500+ career Test runs (1,501 total)
Stand	87 runs, 4th wicket (with Sooriyabandara)
Sri Lanka at lunch	130/4, trailing by 373 runs
India 1st innings	Declared 503/9

How Mendis reached the landmark

Mendis entered the morning needing 31 runs to pass 1,500 Test runs. He had already helped Sri Lanka rebuild after early wickets on day two left the hosts 8 for two in reply to India’s declaration.

On August 25, he and Sooriyabandara stabilised the innings through the first session. Mendis’s 32 came off 58 deliveries, including three fours and a six, before Krishna found a way through close to the lunch interval. Jadeja held the catch to remove Mendis and leave Sri Lanka 130 for four at the break, with Sooriyabandara 65 not out and captain Dhananjaya de Silva on four.

Krishna had already bounced out debutant opener Kamil Mishara for 19 in the same session, finishing the morning with three for 35. Manav Suthar had taken the hosts’ first wicket of the day, leaving India’s pace-and-spin attack in control of a fixture that doubles as a World Test Championship (WTC) 2025–27 qualifier.

Mendis’s Test record

The landmark underlined why Mendis has become one of Sri Lanka’s most reliable batters in the longest format.

Mendis — Test profile	Detail
Tests played	18 (through August 25, 2026)
Career runs	1,501 in 31 innings
Average	53.6
50-plus scores	11 — five converted to centuries
Home / away split	624 runs at home; 877 runs away at 54.81

Among Sri Lankan batters with at least 1,000 Test runs, only Kumar Sangakkara (57.4) averages above 50 — placing Mendis in rare company for a batter still early in his Test career.

In September 2024, Mendis became the fastest Sri Lankan to 1,000 Test runs, reaching the mark in 13 innings. Only Herbert Sutcliffe and Everton Weekes (12 innings each) have done it faster in Test history. Tuesday’s innings added another round-number marker to a résumé built across nine home and nine away Tests.

Match and WTC context

India entered the Colombo Test leading the two-match series 1–0 after a 165-run win in Galle and holding the top position in the WTC standings. Captain Shubman Gill won the toss and batted; Dhruv Jurel’s unbeaten 115 powered India to 503 for nine declared on day two, after Devdutt Padikkal’s second century of the series and contributions across the top and middle order.

Mendis’s dismissal on day three did not end Sri Lanka’s resistance. Sooriyabandara’s maiden Test fifty kept the hosts in the contest at lunch, but the 373-run deficit underscored the scale of the task facing Sri Lanka on a surface where India’s spin trio of Jadeja, Suthar, and debutant Saransh Jain is expected to grow more dangerous as the match progresses.

The SSC has traditionally rewarded batters early and spinners later — exactly the pattern India have engineered by posting a first-innings total above 500 and then attacking with pace before the turn.

What comes next

The second Test runs through August 27, 2026. Sri Lanka’s immediate priority is to avoid the follow-on — requiring 354 more runs from their current position — and to build around Sooriyabandara’s debut innings while the middle order faces an Indian attack that has already taken early wickets in both innings of the series decider.

For Mendis, the 32 adds another half-century platform to a career defined by consistency rather than flash. Passing 1,500 Test runs in his 18th match reinforces his standing as a central figure in Sri Lanka’s rebuild under coach Gary Kirsten, even if this particular innings ended just after the landmark arrived.

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Discussion

Mendis crossed 1,500 Test runs in a session where Sri Lanka still trailed by more than 350 runs — a milestone wrapped inside a larger scoreboard fight.

1. Mendis averages 53.6 after 18 Tests — behind only Sangakkara among Lankan batters with 1,000-plus runs. Does passing 1,500 runs this quickly make him Sri Lanka’s next long-format anchor, or is it too early to rank him alongside Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene?

He needed only 31 runs to reach the mark and departed for 32 after an 87-run stand with a debutant.

2. Krishna removed both Mishara and Mendis before lunch while Sooriyabandara survived on 65. Can Sri Lanka’s lower middle order still avoid the follow-on against Jadeja and Suthar on a wearing SSC pitch — or did Mendis’s wicket decide the session?

India declared at 503/9 and had Sri Lanka 130/4 at the interval.

Share whether Mendis’s milestone innings changes how you view Sri Lanka’s Test batting depth — or whether India’s first-innings total already settled this WTC decider.

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