Despite Ravindra’s early departure, the 24-year-old earned his captain’s credit for reviving the chase on day four, building his second-highest test score.
“He played exceptionally well and deserved a hundred,” said Tim Southee. “He was disappointed but more so that he wasn’t able to do the job.
“It’s obviously not easy to bat when the ball’s spinning and doing all sorts, and for a young guy who hasn’t got a lot of experience in this part of the world to go out and get 90-odd, it kept us in the match and it’s a great sign for him.”
Ravindra will get another opportunity to prove his quality when the second and final test starts at the same venue on Thursday, while the Black Caps will have to settle for squaring the series.
It was a similar story on their last trip to Sri Lanka in 2019 and a drawn series has been the best they have managed on the subcontinent for 16 years.
Ahead of this tour, New Zealand had gone 10 test series in Asia without a win, securing five draws. Their last victory came against Bangladesh in 2008, when skipper Daniel Vettori inspired a 1-0 triumph.
Southee’s side won’t wait long before their next attempt to snap that streak of futility, but the task will be tougher. Next month, they head to India for a three-test series against a team currently leading the World Test Championship.
The Black Caps now sit fourth in those standings, leapfrogged by Sri Lanka to jeopardise their chances of reaching the final. The champions in 2021 need at least five wins from their final seven matches in this cycle, which ends with a three-test home series against England.
Their odds were already high heading into this match but New Zealand will rue squandering what could have been a winning position on the third day.
An unnecessary runout between Glenn Phillips and Daryl Mitchell sparked a lower-order collapse that left the tourists leading by only 35 runs, when they could have otherwise batted Sri Lanka out of the match.
“We would’ve liked a few less to chase,” Southee said. “The position we got ourselves in with the bat in the first innings, and the way the last four or five wickets fell for not many, there was probably an opportunity there to gain a bit more of a lead, which would have made the second innings slightly easier.”
The home side responded with a 147-run stand between Dimuth Karunaratne and Dinesh Chandimal – the highest of the match – and the Black Caps were left chasing 275 on a wicket becoming steadily trickier for batting.
Despite Ravindra’s efforts, and despite earlier five-wicket hauls for Will O’Rourke and Ajaz Patel, that total proved too steep and Sri Lanka too good.
