India’s Test captain Shubman Gill missed the opening day of a three-day warm-up match against Sri Lanka XI at the Nondescripts Cricket Club Ground in Colombo, after sustaining an impact injury to his right ring finger during Thursday’s practice session.

Vice-captain KL Rahul led the side in Gill’s absence, with Sri Lanka XI winning the toss, batting first and reaching 138 for 1 at lunch on the back of a solid opening stand between Nishan Madushka and Ravindu Rasantha.

For a young Indian Test squad still settling into its post-transition leadership structure under head coach Gautam Gambhir, an early captaincy test like this — even in a practice fixture — offers a useful data point on succession depth ahead of a Test series against Sri Lanka starting August 15, 2026.

India’s line-up for the warm-up featured Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sai Sudharsan, Devdutt Padikkal, Rahul as captain, wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja, several of whom are relatively new to sustained Test responsibility.

The tour itself is squarely about conditions-acclimatisation: sub-continental pitches behave differently from what India’s squad has faced in recent assignments, and warm-up fixtures like this one are the primary mechanism teams use to recalibrate before a series opener.

Gill’s fitness will be reassessed over the coming days, with his availability for the rest of the practice match and the first Test remaining the key open question heading into the series.

India’s playing XI for the warm-up fixture featured Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sai Sudharsan, Devdutt Padikkal, KL Rahul as captain, Rishabh Pant as wicketkeeper, and Ravindra Jadeja among others.

The warm-up match is being used by India’s squad to acclimatise to sub-continental conditions ahead of the two-match Test series against Sri Lanka, which begins on August 15, 2026.

Gill, who was named India’s Test captain for the tour, is expected to be assessed over the coming days to determine his availability for the remainder of the three-day practice match and the Test series opener.

Photo by CRICKETNEXT, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0