[Watch] Shubman Gill takes stunning diving catch to remove well-set Kamindu Mendis

Shubman Gill produced a sharp diving catch at square leg to dismiss Kamindu Mendis during the second session of Day 4 of the second Test between India and Sri Lanka at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo on August 26. The dismissal arrived in the 44th over and removed one of the most settled batters in Sri Lanka’s second innings at a critical stage of the match.

Sony Sports Network shared footage of the moment on X, capturing the full sequence of the catch. Prasidh Krishna was the bowler who drew the false stroke from Mendis, and Gill, positioned at square leg, completed a clean diving take to send the batter back to the pavilion.

How the catch unfolded

Mendis played a short delivery that climbed high off the bat and travelled towards square leg. Gill tracked the ball quickly, back-pedalled and completed the diving catch to end what had been a composed and threatening innings from the Sri Lanka middle-order batter.

Mendis had scored 55 runs before the dismissal and looked in utmost ease at the time he was removed. He and Pasindu Sooriyabandara had constructed a 115-run partnership that had brought Sri Lanka back into the contest before Gill’s intervention ended the stand and shifted momentum back towards India.

At the moment of the dismissal, Sri Lanka’s score stood at 178 for 3, leaving them 35 runs behind India’s first-innings lead. Sri Lanka were following on in the match, which added further significance to the wicket for the touring side and made Mendis’s removal all the more important for India’s push to wrap up the game.

Prasidh Krishna had already been among India’s most effective bowlers in Sri Lanka’s first innings, taking three wickets alongside Manav Sutar, who also claimed three. The wicket of Mendis in the second innings continued Krishna’s impact across both innings of the match.

Also Read: ‘People don’t believe me, but I really do enjoy red-ball cricket’ – Ishan Kishan eager for Test comeback

Gill, who is captaining India in this Test, combined his leadership duties with an alert and athletic piece of fielding to remove one of Sri Lanka’s key contributors. With Sri Lanka still in a follow-on situation and the partnership broken, India will look to press for victory in the remaining overs of Day 4 at the SSC.