Sri Lankan cricket is going through an interesting time. The country has a long tradition of the game but most of the time, they remained as one of the supporting casts rather than the game’s superpower. They got their Test status much later compared to India and Pakistan, during the mid-1980s and remained in the shadow of those two Asian superpowers most of the time.
They won the World Cup in 1996 and there was a period from the mid-90s to the early 2000s when Sri Lanka were a strong team and virtually unbeatable at home. Players like Arjuna Ranatunga, Sanath Jayasuriya, and Aravinda de Silva made them a very strong unit. Even the next generation of Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara, and Lasith Malinga maintained the tradition. They also won the 2014 T20 World Cup and were runners-up in two memorable World Cup finals in 2007 and 2011.
However, for the last 10 years, the story of Sri Lankan cricket has had more misses than hits. They failed to go to the knockout stages of any World Cup post-2015 and in the 2024 T20 World Cup, finished below South Africa and Bangladesh to be eliminated in the group stage.
They have tried many players during this phase with limited success and are now focused on developing a young core. Sanath Jayasuriya, one of the legends of the game in Sri Lanka, was assigned the coaching responsibility, and young Charith Asalanka was identified as the new captain. Their first assignment is not an easy one as they are facing India in two white-ball series back-to-back. After being beaten the first two T20 Internationals, the next two matches, one T20I and a One Day International finished as Tied games. These are good results for this young team, especially the ODI where the Sri Lankan spinners could defend a low score of 230.
Sri Lanka has a long tradition of producing world-class spinners including Muttiah Muralitharan, the bowler with the highest Test match wickets. In their current generation, Wanindu Hasaranga leads the spin bowling pack and has some astounding performances against some of the lesser teams. Dunith Wellalage is a wonderful young talent who already has a 5-wicket haul against India. They also have Kamindu Mendis who can bowl both right and left-handed.
Even their current batch of young fast bowlers includes exciting talents like Matheesha Pathirana, Dilshan Madushanka, and Nuwan Thusara. These bowlers are regulars in the IPL and have already impressed at the World stage. However, injuries are a big concern for these speedsters as all of them are unavailable for the ODI series against India. They need to remain injury-free for the benefit of Sri Lanka cricket.
Asalanka delivered with the ball in his first ODI as captain but to build a strong team he needs to deliver consistently with the bat along with other key batters like Pathum Nishanka, Kushal Mendis, and Kushal Perera. All these batters are talented but need to build the temperament to play long innings consistently. Nissanka, for example, has scored two fifties one each in T20I and ODI, but the fans would expect him to convert those innings to centuries.
Another Sri Lankan team that is doing well is their women’s team. They have won their first-ever Asia Cup recently. For the last few years, the Sri Lankan women’s team has improved to become the second-best Asian team in women’s cricket, leapfrogging Pakistan. Chamari Athapaththu is an absolute legend of the game who has done wonders for Sri Lankan cricket. She has scored close to 7,000 runs in international cricket and has 12 hundreds (9 in ODIs and 3 in T20Is) and 29 fifties. She scored an unbeaten 178 against Australia in 2017 and an unbeaten 195 against South Africa this year. Even in the Asia Cup, she delivered during the crunch games as she scored 63 and 61 in the semi-final and final respectively against Pakistan and India. Now, she also has young batters like Harshith Samarawikrama, Kavisha Dilhari and Nilakshika Silva to support her. And their joint effort helped them to get their maiden Women’s Asia Cup in front of their fans who supported them in big numbers. Even a legend like Sangakkara was ecstatic. The women’s game is heavily dominated by Australia and England currently, and even if the Sri Lanka team is not at that level by beating India they have proved themselves to be the next giant killers in women’s cricket.
Coming back to the men’s team, they last won a bilateral series against India in 1997. They will be confident after the Tie to push India further in the next two matches and If they can record their first series victory after 27 years, that will be a huge boost for Sri Lankan cricket.
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