The history of the Sri Lankan national cricket team began in 1832 with the establishment of the Colombo Cricket Club. By the 1880s, a national team, the Salon National Cricket Team, was formed, which began playing first-class cricket until the 1920s. Salon’s national cricket team became an associate member of the International Cricket Council in 1965. Sri Lanka’s name was changed in 1972. The national team first played high-level international cricket in 1975, when it played against the West Indies during the 1975 Cricket World Cup. West Indies won the match by 9 wickets at Old Trafford, Manchester, England. Sri Lanka Cricket Team History.

After Sri Lanka was granted Test status as the eighth Test playing nation on July 21, 1981, they had to wait until September 6, 1985, where Sri Lanka made their debut by beating India by 149 runs in the second match of the series. Test wins recorded. Paikiasothy Saravana Muttu Stadium, Colombo. As of July 10, 2018, Sri Lanka has played 272 Test matches. They won 86 matches, lost 101, and drew 85.

Sri Lanka Championship

He also won the 2001-02 Asian Test Championship, defeating Pakistan by an innings and 175 runs in the final.

Sri Lanka recorded their first ODI victory against India on 16 June 1979 in Manchester, England. Sri Lanka also won the 1996 Cricket World Cup, the 2002 ICC Champions Trophy and the five-time Asian Champions in 1986, 1997 and 2004. , 2008 and 2014.

Sri Lanka played its first Twenty20 International (T20I) match against England in Rose Bowl on 15 June 2006, winning the match by 2 runs. In 2014, he defeated India by 6 wickets to win the 2014 ICC World Twenty20. As of July 10, 2018, Sri Lanka has played 108 T20I matches and won 54 of them. 52 losers and 1 tie and 1 draw.

Sri Lanka Cricket Team Record

As of January 2016, Sri Lanka has faced all nine teams in Test cricket, most of them against Pakistan, who have played 51 matches against them. Sri Lanka has 14 wins against Pakistan and Bangladesh more than any other team. In ODIs, Sri Lanka has played against 17 teams. He has played most of the matches against India with a winning rate of 39.49 in 149 matches. Within the usual big ODI nations, Sri Lanka has beaten England on 34 occasions, which is their best ODI record. The team has played against 13 countries in T20I, and played 15 matches against New Zealand. Sri Lanka has beaten Australia and the West Indies 6.6 times. Sri Lanka was the best T20I team in the world, where they topped the list for more than 32 months, and reached the World T20 final three times. Sri Lanka Cricket Team History.

The Sri Lankan national cricket team represents Sri Lanka in international cricket and is a full member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) with the status of Test, ODI and T20 International (T20I).

Early Progress


Cricket was introduced to Sri Lanka during the British rule, then known as Salon. It is believed that the game was first played in the country in the early 1800s, although the first recorded cricket match was played in 1832. Cricket Club Established The Colombo Cricket Club was formed shortly thereafter and matches began in November 1832.

Early Years

In October 1882, Ivo Bligh’s team played an odd game in Colombo on their way to Australia, where they “recovered the Ashes”. In 1888-89, an English team visited Salon and India, including an 11-a-side game against All Salon in Kandy.

Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) teams have visited at least 23 times since 1911-12, most recently in 2000-01.

By 1911, the salon had five English teams. Led by Ivo Bligh in 1882-83. George Vernon in 1889-90; WG Grace in 1891-92; Lord Hawk in 1892-93; And Andrew Stoddart in 1894-95. The Blaig, Grace and Stoddart teams were on their way to Australia, while the Vernon and Hawk teams were in the salon as part of their tour of India. Sri Lanka Cricket Team History.

1996 Cricket World Cup

1996 Cricket World Cup hosted by Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan team was led by Arjun Ranatanga, where he played his first round in Group A against Australia, West Indies, India, Zimbabwe and Kenya. Australia and the West Indies lost their matches against Sri Lanka on Sri Lankan soil due to safety concerns, so Sri Lanka won both matches by walkover.

Sri Lanka won by 6 wickets against Zimbabwe, courtesy of Arunda de Silva’s 91, the highest score ever for Sri Lanka in the World Cup, and the most by any player at the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground. Had the highest score for Sant Jayasuriya outscored the Indian bowlers in the next match where Sri Lanka won the match by 6 wickets. In this match, Jayasuriya gave away 47 runs in four overs of Indian bowler Manoj Prabhakar. The last group match was against Kenya, Sri Lanka scored 398/5 at that time and recorded the biggest total of the team, Arunda once again played an innings of 145 runs. This was the highest score by a Sri Lankan player in the World Cup. Sri Lanka Cricket Team History.

Quarter Final 1996 Cricket World Cup

In the first quarter final, Sri Lanka had a match against England where Sanath destroyed the English players by scoring his fast 82 runs off just 44 balls. Sri Lanka won the match by 5 wickets to make it to their first semi-final of the World Cup.

Semi Final 1996 Cricket World Cup

Sri Lanka once again faced India in the semi-finals, and the match was played at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, in the eyes of many Indian fans. Sri Lanka came to bat first but their first three wickets fell very quickly. But then, Arunda and Roshan Mahanama led the innings with their half-centuries. Captain Arjun and Hashan Tillakaratne also played valuable innings. Indian fast bowler Javagal Srinath took 3 wickets. Sri Lanka Cricket Team History.

Sri Lanka finished with 251/8 in 50 overs, giving the Indians a good chance to win the match. But Sri Lanka’s bowling was very good, Navjote Singh Sadhu and captain Muhammad Azharuddin were soon out. Sachin Tendulkar along with Sanjay Manjrekar slowly led the innings but his wickets gave Sri Lanka a big chance to win. When India’s score was 120/8, the Indian fans aggressively threw bottles and other items into the ground, which prevented the match from continuing. The umpires talked to both the teams and decided to give the match to Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka reached the final for the first time in the history of the World Cup.

Final Match 1996

The final was from Australia under the leadership of Mark Taylor at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. Before the match, former captain Imran Khan, who won the 1992 Cricket World Cup, told Sri Lankan captain Rana Tanga that if he won the toss, he would choose to bat first. This was because the ground was more conducive to batting first and bowling under the light. In the toss, however, Ranatanga won the match, but chose fielding first.

After a brilliant start by captain Mark Taylor and young superstar and future captain Ricky Ponting, Australia fell to 1-137 to 5-170, after which Sri Lanka’s four-pronged spin attack took its toll. After falling to 241-7 in Australia’s 50 overs quota, Sri Lanka overcame a nerve-wracking start where they lost both openers before reaching 30 to win in 45 overs. Sri Lankan batsman Arvinda played a 107-run match-winning innings, not out, and was assisted by veteran Asanka Grosinha (65) and captain Ranatanga (47 *). De Silva was named Man of the Match for his 3-42 runs in his 10 overs in the Australian innings and Sanath Jayasuriya was named Man of the Series.

1997 Asia Cup

The sixth edition of the Asia Cup was held in Sri Lanka for the second time. Four teams from the subcontinent participated in the tournament. Ranatunga led the World Cup winning team in the Asia Cup. In the first match against Pakistan, Sri Lanka scored 239 runs with the help of Marwan Attapattu’s fifty. In the next match, India scored 227 runs while batting first. During the chase, captain Rana Tanga scored an unbeaten 131-run century to give Sri Lanka a 6-wicket victory.

Sri Lanka defeated Bangladesh

In the last group match, Sri Lanka defeated Bangladesh by 103 runs. Jayasuriya scored a century in the match, where he shared a 171-run stand with Attapattu for the first wicket. The Bangladesh openers put up a partnership of 76 runs but after their fall, Bangladesh lost the plot and managed to score only 193 runs. India and Sri Lanka qualified for the final where Sri Lanka won their second Asia Cup by 8 wickets and ended India’s three consecutive championship races. Attapattu top-scored with an unbeaten 84, with Jayasuriya and Ranatanga scoring half-centuries.

Modern Cricket’s Sri Lanka

After many years as an underdog, Sri Lanka finally shed light on the world of cricket by winning the 1996 Cricket World Cup under the captaincy of Arjun Ranatanga. Meanwhile, he revolutionized the modern batting strategy by scoring fast during the first 15 overs. Sri Lanka later became the co-champions of the 2002 ICC Champions Trophy and five-time Asian champions in 1986, 1997, 2004, 2008 and 2014.

Sri Lanka won their first Test match against Australia on 11 September 1999, led by Sanath Jayasuriya, when they defeated them by six wickets at the Asgeria Stadium, Kandy. They eventually won the three-match Test series 1-0.

On June 14, 2000, Sri Lanka played its 100th Test match. It was against Pakistan in SSC, Colombo led by Sanath Jayasuriya. Pakistan won by 5 wickets.

On 4 August 2016, he played his 250th Test match when he played against Australia in Galle. He won the match by 229 runs and also won the Warren-Muralitharan Trophy for the first time since its inception. On 17 August 2016.

Sri Lanka best playing in Test Match

By 2017, Sri Lanka had whitewashed Zimbabwe three times, Bangladesh once and Australia once in Test cricket.

Sri Lanka played its first day and night Test match against Pakistan on October 6, 2017 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. Under the captaincy of Dinesh Chandimal, Sri Lanka won the match by 68 runs and swept the series 2-0. In this match, Dimuth Cronartney became the first Sri Lankan to score fifty, a century and 150 runs in the Day and Night Test. Lahiro Gamage, who made his debut in the match, became the first Sri Lankan to take a wicket in the Day and Night Test, while Dilruwan Perera became the first Sri Lankan to take five wickets in a Day and Night Test.

Sri Lanka play 1st T20 match

Sri Lanka played its first Twenty20 International (T20I) match against England in Rose Bowl on 15 June 2006, winning the match by 2 runs. In 2014, he defeated India by 6 wickets to win the 2014 ICC World Twenty20.
As of July 2018, Sri Lanka has faced nine teams in Test cricket, only recent Test nations Afghanistan and Ireland are missing from their list of rivals, most of them rivals Pakistan, who have played 55 matches against them. Sri Lanka have won 14 more matches against Pakistan and Bangladesh than any other team.

Sri Lanka ODI Match

In ODIs, Sri Lanka has played against 17 teams. He has played most of the matches against India with a winning rate of 39.49 in 149 matches. Within the usual big ODI nations, Sri Lanka have beaten England 34 times, their best ODI record. The team has played against 13 countries in T20I, and played 15 matches against New Zealand. Sri Lanka has beaten Australia and the West Indies 6.6 times. Therefore, Sri Lanka was the best T20I team in the world, where they topped the list for more than 32 months, and reached the World T20 final three times.

As of July 10, 2018, Sri Lanka has played 272 Test matches. They won 86 matches, lost 101, and drew 85. As of July 10, 2018, Sri Lanka has played 816 ODIs, winning 376 matches and losing 399; His 5 matches also remained equal, while 36 matches did not yield any result. As of July 10, 2018, Sri Lanka has played 108 T20I matches and won 54 of them. 52 losers and 1 tie and 1 draw.

From July 8, 2017 to October 23, 2017, Sri Lanka lost twelve consecutive ODIs, its second longest defeat in ODIs. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka whitewashed South Africa, India and Pakistan 3-0 3 times in 2017. And 3 years later (2020) whitewashed 3-0 against West Indies. Sri Lanka Cricket Team History.

2014 T2O World Cup

As a runner-up in the last World T20, Sri Lanka toured Bangladesh in the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 under the captaincy of Dinesh Chandimal. In the Super 10 group stage, they played against South Africa, New Zealand, England and the Netherlands. In the first match, Sri Lanka faced South Africa. He had a good understanding of the Bangladeshi pitches, due to the Bangladesh bilateral tournament and the 2014 Asia Cup, which was held at the same site before the World T20.

Sri Lankan opener Kosal Parreira recalled all sorts of offensive shots by legend Sanath Jayasuriya. Kosal’s masterstroke was a photocopy of Jayasuriya and destroyed Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, and Lonwabo Tsotsobe. He scored 61 off 40 balls. Sri Lanka’s total score was 165/7. The South African players were not yet down, where they slowly built innings. With wickets at crucial intervals, they ended up on the losing side with a loss of 5 runs. Kosal remained man of the match.

The next match was against the talented Netherlands, who showed their powerful strokes against Ireland in this tournament. But all those strokes ended with the brilliant bowling of Play Mathews, Kolasikra and Malanga. The Dutch team was all out for 39 runs, which is the lowest by any team in a T20 match. Sri Lanka chased this easy target in 5 overs, which was the biggest victory in all T20Is in terms of balls remaining.

In the very next match against England, Alex Hales scored an unbeaten 116 runs to defeat Sri Lanka by 6 wickets. Batting first, Sri Lanka scored 189/4. Mahela scored 89 runs. England always maintained the required run rate very well which gave them a quick hit in the last few overs.

Sri Lanka Best Performance

The last group match was a thrilling match for both the teams, with Sri Lanka as the favorites to win the match. Captain Chandimal was out of the game due to some injury, so Lasith Malinga captained the match. Batting first, Sri Lanka scored only 119 runs, Mahela scored 25 runs as the best batsman. The Black Caps came to the crease as favorites to win the match, as 120 is no big deal for them as smashers – Brendon McCullum, Martin Guptill, Ross Taylor, and Corey Anderson. Anderson was injured during the match and thus New Zealand batted with only 10 players.

New Zealand got off to a good start with Guptill and Ken Williamson. At that moment, Malanga decided to go with Rangana Hearth, who turned the match around. Herath’s ball went to Guptill and he pushed it towards mid on. Immediately leaves for a single but his partner is not interested at all. The bowler cleverly makes a mistake, runs to his right, cuts the ball in his path and sends it to the rocket throw, and Sangakkara whips the Bells.

Sri Lanka winning moments

All the walls of Herath after this run out. He stumped Captain McCullum, then LBWed Ross Taylor. After that, Herath bowled James Nesham on the first ball. He then caught Luke Ronchi on LBW, and New Zealand was never in the game. In the end, New Zealand were all out for just 60 runs, the lowest score by a Test playing nation in the T20 Internationals. Herath took 5 wickets for 3 runs, he was declared man of the match. With this victory, Sri Lanka reached the semi-finals of the World T20 for the fourth time in a row.

Semi Final ICC T20 World Cup 2014

The semi-final match was against defending World T20 champions West Indies. Malanga led the team again. But this time Sri Lanka’s score against West Indies was 160/6. The West Indies score in the chase was 80/4 when it started to rain. Rain and hail ended the match after 13.5 overs of West Indies innings. According to Dickworth-Lewis method, his equal score was 107 runs. Thus, Sri Lanka won by 27 runs in D / L mode. In the presentation, West Indies captain Darren Sammy said that “rain and God gave Sanga and Mahela a big farewell party”. This World Cup is theirs. So, good luck to both of them. The final was not easy at all, in which their opposition was difficult – India. The match was led by Malinga for the third time, where he gave a permanent T20I captaincy. Sri Lanka Cricket Team History.

Final Match T20 World Cup 2014

Sri Lanka and India have played each other more than 60 times in the last seven years, with India winning most of the matches. During the tournament, India was the only unbeaten team to reach the final while Sri Lanka lost to England in a group match. Nevertheless, according to statistics, there was very little competition between the two teams during the tournament.

After winning the toss, India were bowled out for 130 by Sri Lanka in their 20 overs. Virat Kohli top-scored with 77 but Yuvraj Singh’s 11 off 21 balls slowed down the innings in the last over. Malanga and Kolasikra bowled brilliantly to death, where Kohli and Dhoni could not take advantage. Sri Lanka scored 134 runs for the loss of 4 wickets in 17.5 overs. Kumar Sangakkara played his last Twenty20 International match and scored an unbeaten 52 to take Sri Lanka home. Sangakkara was named Player of the Match while Kohli was declared the best player of the tournament. After all four defeats in the big World Cup, Sri Lanka finally ended up with the champions. With this match, Mahela and Sanga retired from Twenty20 International. Sammy’s words finally came true. For more details click here