India’s spin bowling coach Sairaj Bahutule has floated a half-serious fix for his bowlers’ no-ball trouble in the ongoing second Test against Sri Lanka: bringing free-hits from white-ball cricket into the Test format. India’s spinners have overstepped ten times in the match, the most by a spin attack since 2021, behind only Afghanistan’s 14.

Speaking after the fourth day’s play, Bahutule called it a concern, but said a bowler who is putting in extra effort to break a stubborn stand tends to push himself over the line, without excusing it.

He said plenty of work has gone into fixing the take-off point with all-rounders Ravindra Jadeja and Saransh Jain specifically.

On the free-hit idea itself, Bahutule said he is no rule-maker but reckons no-balls would drop fast if bowling sides knew a free-hit and extra runs were the cost. He added that the issue is discussed regularly and a process is being worked on to cut the errors down. The coaching staff also said no-ball checks are built into every net session, sometimes with a coach standing in as umpire.

Sri Lanka are 229 for 6 and have taken a lead of 16 runs in their second innings. The visitors enforced the follow-on after dismissing the host for 290 in their first innings. Shubman Gill’s team would be hoping to take early wickets on Day 5 of the contest to secure a win at the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground in Colombo. India are favorites to go 2-0 in the bilateral assignment and keep their 2026 WTC final alive.

India had declared their first innings after amassing 503 for 9, with Devdutt Padikkal and Dhruv Jurel posting centuries.

Although a few batters have shown their class for Sri Lanka, the majority of the willow holders haven’t been at their best at home.