It was a seesaw battle in the rare 6-day Test (including a rest day) in Galle with Sri Lanka prevailing ultimately to take a 1-0 lead in the two-match series. New Zealand would rue their chances with the bat, especially in the first innings when the deficit remaining was just 50 runs and they had six wickets remaining but could only take a 35-run lead. Sri Lanka after a bit of a collapse apart from Kamindu Mendis' ton in the first innings, came back strongly and collectively with the bat in the second to lay the foundation for the win, which was ultimately theirs.
Chasing a 270-plus total in Sri Lanka against their spinners for a visiting team would always be difficult and even though Rachin Ravindra gave a valiant fight, the Black Caps needed a couple of more contributions as they eventually fell 68 runs short. However, all is not lost as some of the performances with the ball - William O'Rourke and Ajaz Patel and with the bat - Tom Latham, Ravindra and Phillips in the first innings would inspire confidence for New Zealand and that they can topple this Sri Lankan side.
Sri Lanka are on a roll, having won a Test at the Oval and now Galle a few days later, which shows that the island nation is slowly coming to terms with its pool of players for Test cricket and hence will be keen to get this done 2-0 with a couple of tough away tours left.
My Dream11 team for SL vs NZ 2nd Test
Tom Latham, Rachin Ravindra (vc), Ajaz Patel, Kane Williamson, Kamindu Mendis, Daryl Mitchell, Ramesh Mendis, Prabath Jayasuriya (c), Glenn Phillips, William O'Rourke, Asitha Fernando
Probable Playing XIs
Sri Lanka: Pathum Nissanka, Dimuth Karunaratne, Dinesh Chandimal, Angelo Mathews, Kamindu Mendis, Dhananjaya de Silva (c), Kusal Mendis (wk), Ramesh Mendis, Lahiru Kumara, Prabath Jayasuriya, Asitha Fernando
New Zealand: Devon Conway, Tom Latham (w), Kane Williamson, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Blundell (wk), Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Mitchell Santner, Ajaz Patel, Tim Southee (c), William O'Rourke
