Some grounds have a habit of flipping fortunes at the last moment, turning a match that looks won into a painful defeat and leaving a dressing room stunned. The 2015 Test in Galle, Sri Lanka, was exactly that kind of ground for Team India. Virat Kohli had only just taken over as captain, with Ravi Shastri alongside him as coach, and the pair had left nothing to chance in planning their strategy. Yet the match had a different script in store.
On the brink of 176, hopes crumble
By the end of the third day's play, Team India needed 176 runs to win and had reached 23 for the loss of KL Rahul's wicket. That meant 153 more runs were needed on the fourth day, with Shikhar Dhawan, who had scored a century in the first innings, batting alongside nightwatchman Ishant Sharma. When the two walked out to bat, it looked like the match could be wrapped up before lunch. That is when Rangana Herath's spell turned everything on its head. India's batting order collapsed one after another against his spin, and the entire team was bowled out for just 112. Sri Lanka won the match by 63 runs, with Herath alone picking up 7 wickets. The slumped faces of the Indian players during the presentation ceremony said it all, something had gone badly wrong for them at Galle.
Eleven years later, Galle again, and a flashback for Rahul
Eleven years on, Team India is set to return to the same Galle ground, and KL Rahul will again be part of the squad, the same player who witnessed that 2015 defeat and saw every twist of that match unfold in front of him. There's also a striking coincidence this time around. The 2015 match had ended on August 15, while the 2026 fixture will begin on that very date. Until the evening of August 14, all anyone was talking about was an Indian win, but the next morning was about to tell a completely different story, one that played out right in front of KL Rahul.
A party after defeat, Shastri's unusual formula
Having lost the Galle Test inside four days, Team India left for Colombo ahead of schedule. The squad was to stay at the Taj Samudra hotel, and Ravi Shastri fronted a press conference the following day. Asked what the team had done after the loss, he revealed that he had arranged a party for all the players so they could put the setback behind them and reset for what lay ahead. The move paid off on the field, despite losing the first Test, Team India went on to win the next two Tests and the series as well.
A culture that lasted for years
Three years later, when Ravi Shastri and Virat Kohli reunited as coach and captain, the same habit, throwing a party to lighten the mood after a defeat, stayed with the team for a long time.
