Fifth-day Test cricket can be strange.

A team can look completely beaten for four days and suddenly discover a little bit of hope. The pitch may still be playable, the ball may have softened, and a couple of stubborn batters can start making the opposition wonder whether they will actually have to chase wickets all day.

Sri Lanka started the final morning of the Galle Test with exactly that kind of belief.

They were 84 for 4 and still had plenty of time to make India work for the victory.

For a while, it looked as though they might.

Then India slowly took the game away from them.

The eventual 165-run victory was not built around one spectacular spell alone. It came from patience, clever changes in angle and, above everything else, the growing influence of left-arm spinner Manav Suthar.

By the time the rain arrived in Galle, Sri Lanka’s resistance was already over.

Sri Lanka Had Every Reason to Believe

The conditions on the fifth morning were not exactly screaming “all out.”

There was turn, but it wasn’t exaggerated. The surface still gave the batters enough opportunity to defend, leave and score when the bowlers missed their lengths.

Sri Lanka had also shown during the first innings that they could recover from trouble.

They had gone down to 90 for 5 before rebuilding through partnerships, particularly after the ball had lost some of its hardness.

So when Dhananjaya de Silva and Sonal Dinusha walked out on the final morning, Sri Lanka had something to fight for.

India needed to remain patient.

Sri Lanka needed to keep believing.

For the opening part of the morning, the home side did exactly that.

Dhananjaya Looked Comfortable — Until He Didn’t

Dhananjaya de Silva had already been one of Sri Lanka’s more dependable batters during the match.

He played spin with confidence, moved forward and back well and used the sweep when the opportunity was there.

India, however, kept asking questions.

Eventually, Ravindra Jadeja produced a delivery that turned slightly more than Dhananjaya expected. It wasn’t a dramatic ball, but it was enough to disrupt his rhythm.

Dhananjaya tried to respond immediately.

That decision proved costly.

He attempted a more aggressive sweep against a quicker, fuller delivery and top-edged the shot towards short fine leg.

One wicket changed the mood.

India could sense that the door was finally opening.

Krishna’s Short-Ball Plan for Dickwella

Niroshan Dickwella arrived with a very different approach.

India had clearly studied the way Sri Lanka had tried to challenge Rishabh Pant earlier in the match.

Now they decided to turn that idea back on the Sri Lankan batter.

Prasidh Krishna began using the short ball, with fielders placed deep on the leg side and behind square. The plan wasn’t simply to get Dickwella out with one perfect delivery.

It was about creating frustration.

Yashasvi Jaiswal added another layer to the contest.

He tried to tempt Dickwella into attacking over square leg, even joking about an imaginary IPL contract if the batter managed to clear the boundary.

Dickwella wasn’t interested in the offer.

He continued looking towards the cover region instead.

But Krishna eventually changed the line slightly while maintaining the short-ball strategy.

That small adjustment was enough.

Dickwella moved away and tried to play towards cover again, but this time the ball cramped him. The edge flew behind, where Rishabh Pant completed the catch.

Sri Lanka had lost another important wicket.

India were getting closer.

Manav Suthar Changes the Game

The biggest story of the final session, however, belonged to Manav Suthar.

The young left-arm spinner was already having an excellent Test, but his decisive spell showed exactly why India have invested faith in him.

Sonal Dinusha had played beautifully for much of the innings.

After making 168 balls count in the first innings, he again showed impressive patience in the second, surviving for 128 deliveries.

For a batter playing only his fourth Test, it was a mature effort.

But Suthar found the opening.

A tossed-up delivery struck Dinusha’s pads and deflected into the hands of the close-in fielder at leg gully.

The wicket opened the floodgates.

And Suthar wasn’t finished.

Four Wickets in Just 10 Balls

What followed was the kind of spell that can turn a Test match on its head.

Prabath Jayasuriya was the next batter.

Suthar immediately changed pace.

He sent down a delivery around 92.7 kmph, significantly quicker than the ball before it. The ball drifted in, gripped the surface and turned just enough to hit the top of off stump.

There wasn’t much Jayasuriya could do.

That delivery showed an important part of Suthar’s bowling.

He doesn’t need to completely change his action to change the speed.

That makes him difficult to read.

He can bowl slower, then suddenly push one through quicker, while maintaining almost the same arm speed and action.

Suthar’s Consistency Is His Biggest Weapon

KL Rahul’s assessment of Suthar after the match highlighted what makes the young spinner interesting.

The key isn’t simply the variation.

It is the fact that the variation comes from an almost identical action.

That creates doubt in the batter’s mind.

If the bowler keeps landing the ball in the same area, the batter eventually feels compelled to do something different.

And that is often when the mistake arrives.

Suthar also benefited from the conditions at Galle.

The wind helped him generate drift, particularly when bowling from the Fort End. Once the ball moved through the air before gripping the surface, the batter had another problem to solve.

That is a dangerous combination.

A Bowler Who Keeps Multiple Dismissals in Play

Another impressive aspect of Suthar’s bowling is the number of ways he can get a batter out.

His line brings LBW into the equation.

If the ball turns, the outside edge becomes a possibility.

If the batter plays for turn and the ball goes straight, the stumps are suddenly exposed.

That uncertainty is valuable for a spinner.

Lahiru Kumara found that out when he played forward expecting the ball to turn.

It didn’t.

The ball found the edge and went through to Pant.

One over later, Suthar produced another quicker delivery to finish Keshara Nuwantha’s resistance.

Four wickets had fallen in just 10 deliveries.

The match was over as a contest.

A Huge Moment in Suthar’s Young Test Career

Suthar finished with a 10-wicket haul in the Galle Test, an achievement that will give his young international career a serious boost.

For a spinner making only his second Test appearance, producing that kind of performance in overseas conditions is significant.

Naturally, comparisons with Ravindra Jadeja will follow.

Both are left-arm spinners and both can contribute with the bat, but Suthar does not need to become the next Jadeja.

India would be better served by allowing him to develop his own identity.

What he already possesses is enough to make him an exciting option.

India Never Let Sri Lanka Settle

Perhaps the most impressive thing about India’s bowling was the refusal to let Sri Lanka build momentum for too long.

Whenever a partnership began to look comfortable, India changed something.

A different angle.

A short-ball plan.

A close fielder.

A quicker delivery.

A change in pace.

They didn’t wait for Sri Lanka to make a mistake on its own.

They kept creating situations in which a mistake became more likely.

That is how fifth-day Test bowling should work.

The Rain Arrived Too Late

There was almost a final twist waiting in the sky.

Heavy rain arrived around the time India’s victory was already secure.

The dark clouds had been building earlier, and for a brief period there was the possibility that weather could interfere with the finish.

But Sri Lanka’s resistance had not lasted long enough.

India didn’t need the new ball.

They didn’t need extra time.

And the rain couldn’t save the home side.

The match had already been decided by then.

India’s 165-Run Victory Says Plenty

A 165-run win is impressive by itself.

But the way India earned it is perhaps more important.

Sri Lanka began the final day with genuine hope. They had batters willing to stay at the crease, a pitch that wasn’t impossible to negotiate and enough time to make India uncomfortable.

India simply refused to let the pressure disappear.

Jadeja helped create the first breakthrough.

Krishna’s short-ball plan removed Dickwella.

And Suthar delivered the knockout punch.

It was a proper team effort.

Manav Suthar Is One to Watch

Indian Test cricket has always valued quality spin.

With Suthar showing this level of control and variation so early in his career, India suddenly have another interesting name to develop.

The comparison with Jadeja will be unavoidable, but perhaps unnecessary.

Suthar has his own strengths.

His pace, accuracy, drift and ability to change speed without dramatically changing his action make him difficult to read.

The Galle Test was only his second Test.

It already feels like a significant one.

The Final Word

Sri Lanka fought hard.

For much of the fifth morning, they made India work.

But India had something Sri Lanka couldn’t quite match: the ability to keep changing the questions.

Once the openings appeared, the visitors attacked them without hesitation.

And Manav Suthar made sure the ending came quickly.

The rain arrived.

The clouds became heavier.

But there was no longer any suspense.

Sri Lanka’s resistance had already been unravelled, and India had completed a memorable 165-run victory in Galle.