R Ashwin believes Sri Lanka’s chances in the upcoming Test series against India depend entirely on their spin attack, and the one name he trusts to trouble Indian batters is Rangana Herath, who retired from international cricket in 2018.
Speaking on his YouTube channel ahead of the two-match WTC series starting August 15 in Galle, the former India off-spinner questioned who Sri Lanka would rely on to challenge India’s batting lineup on turning pitches. Ashwin made it clear that without a spinner of Herath’s calibre, Sri Lanka lack the one weapon that could genuinely hurt India.
“I want to know who their spinners are. If Rangana Herath was there then I would say Sri Lanka have a great chance in this series. Because Indian batters in recent times struggle against…”
R Ashwin, YouTube channel, July 2026
Ashwin’s comment is not nostalgia. It is a direct assessment of what Sri Lanka are missing. Herath finished his Test career with 433 wickets in 93 matches, making him the most successful left-arm spinner in the history of the format. At Galle alone, he took 94 wickets in 17 Tests, second only to Muttiah Muralitharan’s 111 at the venue.
🚨If Rangana Hearth will be there then i would say Srilanka will win – Ashwin🤯
Ashwin 🗣️: I want to know who their spinners are. If Rangana Hearth was there then i would say Srilanka have a great chance in this series. Because indian batters in recent times struggle against… pic.twitter.com/rHIJIW3Zfj
— Achyut Mishra (@PulledFor_Six) July 31, 2026
India have lost five of their last nine Tests on spin-friendly surfaces. New Zealand’s spinners took 37 wickets across three Tests during their 3-0 sweep in India in 2024. South Africa’s slow bowlers claimed 25 wickets in their 2-0 series win. Indian batters lost 87 wickets to spin in that period, compared to 46 against pace. Ashwin knows this vulnerability better than most. He was part of the dressing room that watched it unfold.
Sri Lanka’s home record confirms the pattern. Across their last three home Test series against Bangladesh, Australia and New Zealand, Sri Lankan bowlers took 75 wickets through spin and only 16 through pace. More than 82 per cent of their wickets came from slow bowlers. The conditions favour spin. The question is whether Sri Lanka have the spinner to exploit them.
Sri Lanka’s Search for the Next Herath Still Has No Answer
Since Herath’s retirement in November 2018, Sri Lanka have tried Tharindu Kaushal, Akila Dananjaya, Lakshan Sandakan, Praveen Jayawickrama, Lasith Embuldeniya, Ramesh Mendis, and Wanindu Hasaranga in Test cricket. None became consistent match-winners.
Prabath Jayasuriya is the closest Sri Lanka have come. He was the second-equal-fastest bowler in terms of matches played to reach 100 Test wickets. But against Australia earlier in 2025, he bowled 104 overs and averaged 40.44, conceding runs at 3.50 an over. Against Bangladesh at Galle in June 2025, Jayasuriya went wicketless in the first innings, conceding 154 runs. Sri Lanka’s seamers outperformed their spinners in that match, an outcome that would have been unthinkable when Herath was operating at the other end.
As ESPNcricinfo noted, Sri Lanka’s latest generations of spinners “have tended to need rank dustbowls on which to impose themselves.” Herath did not need that. He took seven for 48 against India at Galle in 2015 on a surface that still had enough in it for batters. That is the difference Ashwin is pointing to.
Insider Read
Herath’s danger to Indian batters was not about turn. It was about angle. A left-arm orthodox spinner bowling from around the wicket into the rough outside the right-hander’s off stump at Galle creates a line that no other bowling type replicates. The ball drifts in with the arm, lands in the footmarks, then grips and turns away. The Galle crosswind pushes it further.
Indian batters who rely on the front-foot press, and most of this lineup does, were caught in no-man’s-land against Herath. Neither fully forward nor fully back. His loop and dip meant the ball arrived slower than expected, pulling the batter into the drive before the turn took the edge. Facing Herath in Galle’s second innings, when the rough was established and the wind was cutting across, was one of the hardest assignments in Test cricket. You could not score, and you could not survive indefinitely. That combination broke batting orders, not just individual batters.
Sri Lanka’s current spinners turn the ball. Herath controlled the game. That is what Ashwin means when he says Sri Lanka needed Herath, not just any spinner.
The first Test begins on August 15 at the Galle International Cricket Stadium, followed by the second Test starting August 23 at the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground in Colombo. Both matches are part of the ICC World Test Championship 2025-27 cycle, with India sitting fifth and Sri Lanka sixth in the standings. For India, the series is a chance to climb the table. For Sri Lanka, it is another reminder that the spinner who once made Galle unplayable is not walking back through the door.
Sources:
- R Ashwin, YouTube channel, July 2026
Also Read:
