India, Aug. 28 -- When Jasprit Bumrah was ruled out of the Sri Lanka Tests due to injury, it was inevitable India would struggle. Struggle in the sense that they were the higher-ranked side and were expected to win both contests in Galle and Colombo to breathe life into their World Test Championship (WTC) campaign. So, any result other than 2-0 wouldn't exactly be a success.

And struggle they did. On the last day of the second and last Test in Colombo on Thursday, they failed to take the last four Sri Lankan wickets, and by the time the Lankans declared on 429/9 with a lead of 216 runs and less than an hour's play left, both teams shook hands over a draw.

In the absence of Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj was expected to take the lead. Last year ...