India take a 1-0 lead with a 165-run win against the hosts in Galle to begin the two-Test series.
Published On 19 Aug 202619 Aug 2026
Left-arm spinner Manav Suthar finished with a haul of 10 wickets as India thrashed Sri Lanka by 165 runs in the first Test in Galle to take a 1-0 lead in the two-match series.
Suthar, playing only his second Test, impressed with his line and length to ensure India a memorable win on Wednesday in their 600th Test match.
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He took four wickets in the first innings and kept up the fine show to take 6-55, helping bowl out the hosts for 206 shortly after lunch on the final day.
Set a target of 372 runs, Sri Lanka’s batters failed to apply themselves, other than Sonal Dinusha, who top-scored in both innings.
Indian captain Shubman Gill called the victory “very satisfying”.
“We were in a comfortable position but were not sure if the match would go on [because of the weather], but the team responded well,” he said.
Gill also praised Suthar and the batsmen for their effort on a wicket that was not easy to score runs on.
“He has been bowling magnificently. Looks like a very promising guy and someone who can play for India for a long time,” he said.
India claimed two wickets in the morning session after Sri Lanka resumed from their overnight score of 84-4 and then quickly ran through the tail.
Captain Dhananjaya de Silva (59) and first-innings centurion Dinusha tried to fight back, batting for more than two hours to add 95 runs for the fifth wicket.
De Silva, who had been dismissed off a no-ball early in his innings, looked set to make the most of the reprieve, posting his 20th half-century.
But his knock ended after he attempted a sweep shot off Ravindra Jadeja and was caught at short fine leg by Suthar.
“It was not easy [batting fourth in Galle],” said de Silva.
“They won the toss, got the runs on the board, and with our batting, we lost wickets, and it went downhill from there.”
India’s Manav Suthar, left, bowls on the final day at the Galle Stadium [Ishara S Kodikara/AFP]
Wicketkeeper Niroshan Dickwella posted a half-century in the first innings but could not make an impact in the second.
Dickwella fell for 10 when he attempted to hit Prasidh Krishna over the slips but ended up edging one to the wicketkeeper.
Suthar triggered a late-order collapse with a triple-wicket maiden after lunch and then, in his next over, claimed the last wicket of Keshara Nuwantha as Sri Lanka folded 36 minutes after lunch.
The last four wickets fell for seven runs, with Suthar claiming them all.
The 25-year-old Dinusha (84) put up a solid effort despite little support from his teammates.
Playing his fourth Test, he showcased maturity beyond his age, taking on India’s spinners with nimble footwork.
He was dismissed when Dhruv Jurel at leg slip took a bat-pad catch. He faced 128 deliveries during his defiant knock and hit eight fours and one six.
Apart from Suthar, the other standout performer for India was top-order batter Devdutt Padikkal, who posted 167 and 44 in the game, having come in as a late injury replacement.
“The wicket had its natural wear and tear [but] it was a good Test wicket,” Padikkal said.
“Turned a lot more from the third day onwards. In the end, it was all about who came out on top with their skill-set.”
The teams now head to Colombo for the second Test match, starting on Sunday.
The Minions took over theaters this weekend as Universal Pictures and Illumination’s “Minions & Monsters” won the top spot at the box office, though with a lower-than-expected domestic haul.
The animated movie, which follows the Minions’ takeover of Hollywood, took in $61.4 million in the U.S. and Canada for the five-day Fourth of July holiday weekend, according to studio estimates. That haul was lower than analysts’ expectations for a domestic opening of about $68 million. The movie’s three-day total was $36.4 million.
But the Minions performed well internationally, bringing in about $85 million. In total, “Minions & Monsters” made $159.9 million worldwide on a production budget of about $85 million.
The film is the latest in the powerhouse franchise that began with “Despicable Me” in 2010. Across its previous six installments, the “Despicable Me” and “Minions” franchise has made more than $5.6 billion at the global box office. The last movie, 2022’s “Minions: The Rise of Gru,” made more than $940 million worldwide.
“Minions & Monsters” marks the lowest opening for the franchise. Part of the issue could be timing — the box office can be negatively affected when the Fourth of July lands on a Saturday, said Paul Dergarabedian, head of marketplace trends at Rentrak.
Walt Disney Co. and Pixar’s “Toy Story 5” came in second at the box office this weekend with a domestic three-day gross of $31 million. Angel Studios’ biopic “Young Washington” ($20.8 million), Warner Bros. and DC Studios’ “Supergirl” ($9.6 million) and Universal’s “Disclosure Day” ($6 million) rounded out the top five, according to Rentrak.
The haul for “Minions & Monsters,” coupled with the strong holdover performance of “Toy Story 5,” proved again that family films are making a dent in the summer box office.
“Toy Story 5” has now brought in a total of $764.3 million worldwide, and last month, Universal, Illumination and Nintendo’s “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” crossed $1 billion at the global box office, becoming the first film of any kind to do so this year.
The rest of the summer theatrical lineup is also expected to bring in audiences and push domestic box office totals closer to pre-pandemic figures. Next week, Disney will release its live-action “Moana,” followed by Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” and Sony Pictures’ “Spider-Man: Brand New Day.”
To date, the summer box office is now about $2.3 billion, a nearly 12% increase compared with the same period a year ago, according to Rentrak data. Compared with pre-pandemic 2019’s numbers, however, it is still down about 7%.
Ben Duckett’s scintillating century built on an inspirational bowling spell from Ben Stokes to haul England back into the decisive third Test against New Zealand at Trent Bridge.
In a remarkable turnaround from the Black Caps reaching 317-0 at one stage on the opening day, England took all 10 wickets for 121 runs to dismiss the tourists for 438, then closed the second day on 223-2 – 215 behind.
Captain Stokes, back in the side after the nightclub controversy that led him to miss the second Test, was the catalyst with a typically tireless stint in the sweltering heat.
After England failed to make a breakthrough in the first 40 minutes, Stokes’ eight overs yielded three wickets and a dropped catch.
Shoaib Bashir took two in an over and Jofra Archer one, as well as striking Blair Tickner with a blow that eventually ruled the seamer out of the match with concussion. Overall, from their overnight 361-4, New Zealand lost six wickets for 77 runs on Friday.
Given the conditions and the flat pitch it was a superb effort from England, who set about cutting the deficit despite the loss of Emilio Gay for a duck.
With the support of Jacob Bethell, Duckett took advantage of being dropped on eight to register his first Test hundred since last June.
New Zealand were almost powerless to prevent England’s rapid progress, as the second-wicket pair added 179.
Duckett was eventually out for 113, leaving Bethell to move to an unbeaten 74 – his first half-century at home and in the first innings of a Test. Joe Root, at one of his most fruitful venues, reached 21 not out.
Welcome back to the Times of Troy newsletter, where USC baseball’s charmed season came to a devastating end in the bottom of the ninth of a decisive Super Regional matchup with North Carolina on Sunday. But no matter how brutal it may have been in the moment — with black-stained tears streaming down Trojan cheeks in Chapel Hill — the fact that USC was in position to have its heart broken at all is a testament to what Andy Stankiewicz has built in his four seasons at the helm.
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It was barely a year ago that I sat with Stankiewicz in an unfinished concrete dugout at new Dedeaux Field, discussing the importance of building a foundation for a program that had lacked one for so long. The metaphor wrote itself at the time. His team was on the cusp of clinching its first NCAA berth in a decade, just as its new stadium was finally rounding into form. But as triumphant as that tournament invite would be when it finally happened, Stankiewicz was already thinking bigger.
“We want to build this thing for the long haul,” he said then. “And to build a home, you have to build a strong foundation so it can withstand the weather. The same thing applies here. I want to be here for a long time. This is where I grew up. This is where I’d love to be.”
A year later, the foundation hasn’t just been built. The house is finished. The front door is open. All that’s left is for the Trojans to walk through it.
They had their chance Sunday in Chapel Hill. Andrew Johnson twirled another postseason gem. The Trojan bats, again, delivered in big moments, with clutch solo shots from Kevin Takeuchi and Andrew Lamb. Through 8.2 innings, USC had given up just a single run.
But the bullpen, which had been one of the Trojans’ few weak points all season, couldn’t finish the job. Sax Matson came in for just a single pitch and was pulled. Adam Troy faced three batters, walked one who scored and was pulled in the middle of a 3-0 count for another. Chase Herrell faced four batters after that, walked one and gave up two other hits, including the walk-off winner.
Just two outs stood between the Trojans and a trip to Omaha. At one point, all they had to do was catch a fouled pop fly to send the game to extras.
“That was a tough one,” Stankiewicz said after. “As best we can, we’re gonna move forward. But again, I got some disappointed young men in our dugout. As the head coach, you think, ‘Dang it, what could I have done differently?’”
Surely, the Trojans coach might be thinking all season about how close his team was to reaching that next rung as a program. The truth, though, is it’s a wonder they got here this fast in the first place. USC won 48 games, its most in a quarter century. It had to climb its way back from the loser’s bracket in its regional, then, on the road in Chapel Hill, it took one of the national title favorites to the brink.
Not only that, but USC rose to that level in a still-unfinished stadium, without anything resembling the NIL firepower that other college baseball teams, particularly in the SEC and ACC, are wielding. USC has tried to make up for that by funding more scholarships, but when other teams are handing kids hundreds of thousands more in NIL offers, it makes competing with the Joneses especially difficult.
Stankiewicz has managed to make it work, anyway. And as more talent rolls into Troy, there’s every reason to believe that we’ll look back on this moment, not as a devastating end, but the start of something particularly special for USC baseball.
“We got to the finals of the Regional last year. Now the finals of a Super Regional,” Stankiewicz said. “We’re not going away.”
Calling all questions …
With the summer here and college sports now on hold for the next two months, it’s a perfect time to answer any questions you have about the upcoming year at USC. So please send anything on your mind about Trojan sports to ryan.kartje@latimes.com. When the newsletter returns in a couple of weeks, I’ll answer the best ones in this space.
USC pitcher Andrew Johnson.
(Laura Wolff / For The Times)
—A standing ovation for Johnson, whose pitching performance through the postseason was nothing short of Herculean. Johnson spent most of the season as the Trojans’ forgotten No. 3 option in the rotation, with Mason Edwards and Grant Govel ranking among the best pitchers in the nation. But it was Johnson who came up the biggest in the postseason. Twice he pitched well in relief, only to throw seven-plus innings two days later. This felt like a breakthrough moment for Johnson, who should pair with Govel to give USC an outstanding 1-2 punch on Fridays and Saturdays next season.
—There’s been talk about alternate jerseys at USC over the last several years. The conversation about alternates actually dates back to before Jennifer Cohen took over as athletic director. But as was the case before, the conversation has been tabled for the time being. Athletic departments are always looking for added revenue these days, but the juice just hasn’t been worth the squeeze to date, considering the many fans that would surely be offended by changes to the Trojans’ classic uniforms.
Olympic sports spotlight
After going on a tear to close out the season, USC women’s golf was on the precipice of snagging the school’s second national title this year … before it ran into a buzzsaw in No. 1 Stanford.
But an NCAA runner-up finish is still a great result for a program that hasn’t won an NCAA title since 2013. The Trojans have now finished second six times in their past 38 seasons, which is to say they’ve been the runner-ups basically 15% of the time over the last four decades.
That’s a lot of years being the bridesmaid, not the bride. But there’s no reason to think that Justin Silverstein, the Big Ten’s Coach of the Year in 2026, shouldn’t have this program back in the mix as soon as next season.
What I’m Watching This Week
Matthew Rhys and Stephen Root in “Widow’s Bay.”
(Apple)
If you’re in the mood for something creepy, boy do I have the content for you. “Widow’s Bay” on Apple TV follows Mayor Tom Loftis, played by Matthew Rhys, who’s desperate to revive his struggling island community of Widow’s Bay. But the locals on the island are convinced the town is cursed, and don’t necessarily approve of bringing tourists into the mix.
As you might imagine, the locals appear to be right. And Loftis finds himself in some horrifying situations. Enough to convince me that maybe this isn’t the best show to be watching alone, late at night. But if that’s in your wheelhouse, then this is as good as it gets.
That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at ryan.kartje@latimes.com, and follow me on X at @Ryan_Kartje. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.
