Dinesh Chandimal has scored an unbeaten 63 as Sri Lanka struggled to 136-5 at lunch on Day 3 in reply to Australia's imposing first innings of 654 in the first cricket test.

Steve Smith has been labelled a tactical “genius” by Australian spinner Matt Kuhnemann after the stand-in skipper helped set up the wicket of Sri Lankan captain Dhananjaya de Silva on Friday.

Australia's Usman Khawaja struck a maiden double hundred and Josh Inglis got a century on his test debut against Sri Lanka to power the tourists to a mammoth 654 for six before they declared their first innings on day two of the opening test on Thursday.

Sri Lanka is staring down the barrel at 44-3 after Australia achieved its largest ever total in Asia — 654-6 declared — on day two of the first test in Galle.

Follow live coverage of Sri Lanka vs Australia from the Australia in Sri Lanka 2025 today. The ICC Test Championship sees nine teams compete across a two-year cycle of matches before a two-team final decides the winner.

Travis Head will replace Sam Konstas as Usman Khawaja's opening partner in the first test against Sri Lanka at Galle on Wednesday, Australia's stand-in captain Steve Smith said on the eve of the match.

Australia’s batters have feasted on Sri Lanka’s bowling, racking up milestones and dominance on a rain-curtailed opening day of the first test in Galle.

Mitchell Starc achieved a significant milestone by taking the important wicket of Dimuth Karunaratne during the second innings of the first Test. This marked the 700th wicket of his international career across all formats.