On August 27, 2026, on Day 5 of the 2nd Test at Colombo, Sonal Dinusha became the fifth batsman in Test cricket history to score fifty or more runs in each of his first four innings against India.
Before adding 103 in the first innings of the second Test, Sonal Dinusha had amassed 100 and 84 in the first. He completed a run that now includes every innings of the two-Test series on the last day at Colombo, extending his overnight total of 7 not out to 55 not out by the end of the first session.
With Sonal Dinusha and his overnight companion Nuwantha on 3 not out, Sri Lanka had a lead of just 16 runs at the start of Day 5 at 229 for 6. The two made significant contributions at the end of the first session, raising the total to 329 for 6 and increasing the lead to 116 runs, with Nuwantha remaining undefeated on 46.
In their first four Test innings against India, which four batters have scored more over fifty runs?
The four batsmen who accomplished this feat prior to Sonal Dinusha are among the most illustrious figures in almost nine decades of Test cricket. The first was Douglas Jardine of England, who did so between 1932 and 1934. In 1948, the West Indies’ Everton Weekes and Clyde Walcott came next. In 1959, Englishman Ken Barrington finished the group.
The fact that no batter accomplished it in the more over six decades between Barrington in 1959 and Sonal Dinusha in 2026 highlights how uncommon the accomplishment is. Dinusha’s ability to score fifty or more runs in four straight innings against India in two different Test matches puts him in the company of players from the amateur era to the present.
In a two-match series, how does Sonal Dinusha streak compare to those of Sangakkara and Flower?
The more general comparison with Andy Flower and Kumar Sangakkara concerns batters who have scored fifty or more runs in each innings of a two-Test series. During Zimbabwe’s 2000 tour of India, Flower scored 183 not out, 70, 55, and 232 not out.
Rather than in a single two-match series, Sangakkara’s identical accomplishment is documented over two distinct series, one at home against Bangladesh in 2013 and another in England in 2014. Therefore, editorial clarification is necessary prior to publication regarding the exact classification employed in the headline comparison. Additionally, Dimuth Karunaratne is mentioned as having scored fifty or more runs in each of the four innings of a 2018 home series against South Africa.
