History of the Sri Lankan cricket team

The History of the Sri Lanka national cricket team began with the formation of the Colombo Cricket Club in 1832. By the 1880s a national team, the Ceylon national cricket team, was formed which began playing first-class cricket by the 1920s. The Ceylon national cricket team had achieved associate member status of the International Cricket Council in 1965. Renamed Sri Lanka in 1972, the national team first competed in top level international cricket in 1975, when they played against West Indies during 1975 Cricket World Cup; West Indies won the match by 9 wickets at the Old Trafford, Manchester, England.^[1]

After Sri Lanka awarded Test status in 21 July 1981 as eighth Test playing nation, they had to wait until 6 September 1985, where Sri Lanka recorded their first Test win by beating India, in the second match of the series by 149 runs at the Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu Stadium, Colombo.^[2][3] As of 6 August 2016, Sri Lanka have played 250 Test matches; they have won 77 matches, lost 91 matches, and 80 matches were drawn.^[4] They have also won the 2001-02 Asian Test Championship, defeating Pakistan in the final by an innings and 175 runs.^[5]

Sri Lanka registered their first ODI win against India at Manchester, England, in 16 June 1979.^[6] As of February 2016, Sri Lanka have played 765 ODI matches, winning 362 matches and losing 366; they also tied 4 matches, whilst 33 had no result.^[7] They also won the 1996 Cricket World Cup,^[8] co-champions in 2002 ICC Champions Trophy and also became five times Asian champions in 1986, 1997, 2004, 2008 and 2014.

Sri Lanka played their first Twenty20 International (T20I) match at the Rose Bowl, on 15 June 2006, against England, winning the match by 2 runs.^[9] In 2014, they won the 2014 ICC World Twenty20, defeating India by 6 wickets.^[10] As of February 2016, Sri Lanka have played 73 T20I matches and won 43 of them; 28 were lost and 1 tied and 1 no result match as well.^[11]

As of January 2016, Sri Lanka have faced all nine teams in Test cricket, with their most frequent opponent being Pakistan, playing 51 matches against them.^[12] Sri Lanka have registered more wins against Pakistan and Bangladesh than any other team, with 14.^[12] In ODI matches, Sri Lanka have played against 17 teams; they have played against India most frequently, with a winning percentage of 39.49 in 149 matches.^[13] Within usual major ODI nations, Sri Lanka have defeated England on 34 occasions, which is their best record in ODIs.^[13] The team have competed against 13 countries in T20Is, and have played 15 matches against New Zealand. Sri Lanka have defeated Australia and West Indies 6 occasions each.^[14] Sri Lanka is currently the best T20I team in the world, where they ranked number one in more than 32 months, and reached World Twenty20 final in three times.

The Sri Lanka national cricket team represents Sri Lanka in international cricket and is a full member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) with Test and One Day International (ODI) status.^[15]

Early developments

Cricket was brought to Sri Lanka, then known as Ceylon, by the British during the British Period. It is assumed the game was first played in the country by the early 1800s, though the first recorded cricket match was played in 1832. The earliest definite mention of cricket in Ceylon was a report in the Colombo Journal on 5 September 1832 which called for the formation of a cricket club. The Colombo Cricket Club was formed soon afterwards and matches began in November 1832.

Early years

In October 1882, Ivo Bligh's team played an odds game in Colombo^[16] en route to Australia, where they "recovered those Ashes". In 1888–89, an English team led by George Vernon toured Ceylon and India, including an 11-a-side game against All-Ceylon at Kandy. In 1890, the Australian team en route to England played in Colombo.

Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) teams have visited on no less than 23 occasions since 1911–12, most recently in 2000–01.

By 1911, there had been five English teams in Ceylon. Those were led by Ivo Bligh in 1882–83; George Vernon in 1889–90; WG Grace in 1891–92; Lord Hawke in 1892–93; and Andrew Stoddart in 1894–95. The Bligh, Grace and Stoddart teams were en route to Australia while the Vernon and Hawke ventures took in Ceylon as part of visits to India.

1920s

First-class matches played by Ceylon, 1920s

Season	Opponent	Venue	Played	Won	Lost	Drawn
First-class matches
1926–27	Marylebone Cricket Club	Viharamahadevi Park, Colombo	1		1
Totals			1		1
Other International matches
1926	Australians	Colombo Cricket Club Ground, Colombo	1		1
1927	New Zealanders	Colombo	1			1
Totals			2		1	1

Ceylon played its first first-class match under that name against Marylebone Cricket Club at Nomads Ground, Victoria Park, Colombo in 1926–27, losing by an innings.^[17]

1930s

First-class matches played by Ceylon, 1930s

Season	Opponent	Venue	Played	Won	Lost	Drawn
First-class matches
1932–33 1936–37	7 Minor teams	2 Home, 5 Away	7	1	4	2
1932–33	India	Lawrence Gardens, Lahore Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi	2			2
1935–36	Australians	Viharamahadevi Park, Colombo	1			1
Totals			10	1	4	5

The team's first win came against Patiala at Dhruve Pandove Stadium in 1932–33.^[18]

First-class cricket in Ceylon became restricted to games against visiting touring teams, notably the English and Australian teams who used Ceylon as a stopover on the long voyage to each other's country. Douglas Jardine's infamous "bodyline team" was there in 1932–33. Occasionally, teams representative of Ceylon played matches abroad, especially in India. English team Sir Julien Cahn's XI visited Ceylon in 1936–37.

1940s

First-class matches played by Ceylon, 1940s

Season	Opponent	Venue	Played	Won	Lost	Drawn
First-class matches
1940–41 1945–46	3 Minor teams	1 Home, 3 Away	4	1	2	1
1944–45	India	Colombo Oval, Colombo	1			1
1948–49	West Indians	Colombo Oval, Colombo	2	1		1
1948–49	Pakistan	Colombo Oval, Colombo	2		2
Totals			9	2	4	3

The India national cricket team visited Ceylon in April 1945 and played one first-class match against Ceylon at the Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu Stadium in Colombo. The match was drawn on account of bad weather. India's team was a strong one captained by Vijay Merchant and including notable players such as Shute Banerjee, Mushtaq Ali, Lala Amarnath, Vijay Hazare and Rusi Modi.

Several Australian teams stopped and played matches in Ceylon while traveling to England and back. In the aftermath of World War II, came the Australian Services cricket team in Ceylon and India in 1945–46, featuring Keith Miller who scored a century in Colombo. Miller returned as part of the Australian cricket team in England in 1948 which played a game in Colombo during a stopover on their voyage to England.

The West Indies cricket team visited Ceylon in February 1949 and played two first-class matches versus Ceylon. The West Indies won the first match at Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu Stadium in Colombo by an innings and 22 runs after scoring 462–2 declared with centuries by Allan Rae, Everton Weekes and Clyde Walcott. Prior Jones took ten wickets in the match. The second match at the same venue was drawn, Rae making another century for West Indies.

The Pakistan national cricket team visited Ceylon in August 1949 to play two first-class matches versus Ceylon. Both games were played at the Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu Stadium in Colombo. Pakistan, captained by Mohammad Saeed, won the first match by an innings and 192 runs, Saeed himself top-scoring with 93. The great Pakistan bowler Fazal Mahmood took 4–15 as Ceylon were bowled out for only 95 in their second innings. Pakistan won the second match by 10 wickets despite some good batting by Ceylon in their first innings.

1950s

First-class matches played by Ceylon, 1950s

Season	Opponent	Venue	Played	Won	Lost	Drawn
First-class matches
1949–50 1957–58	9 Minor teams	1 Home, 3 Away	11	3	3	5
1949–50	Pakistan	Bagh-e-Jinnah, Lahore Karachi Gymkhana Ground, Karachi	2		2
1956–57	India	Colombo Oval, Colombo	2			2
Totals			15	3	5	7

From 1953–4 until 1975-6, the Ceylon Cricket Association played a first-class match against Madras (later renamed Tamil Nadu) for the Gopalan Trophy. This fixture was played in Colombo roughly every two years, with one further fixture in 1982-3, alternating with the fixture being held in Madras.

India visited Ceylon in November 1956 and played two first-class international matches against Ceylon at the Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu Stadium in Colombo. Both matches were drawn.^[19] The Indian team was captained by Polly Umrigar and included Nari Contractor, Subhash Gupte, Pankaj Roy, A. G. Kripal Singh and Vijay Manjrekar.

1960s

First-class matches played by Ceylon, 1960s

Season	Opponent	Venue	Played	Won	Lost	Drawn
First-class matches
1959–60 1968–69	10 Minor teams	3 Home, 12 Away	15	2	3	10
1964–65	India	Central College Ground, Bangalore Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium, Hyderabad Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Stadium, Ahmedabad	3	1	2
1966–67	Pakistan	Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore Dacca Stadium, Dacca National Stadium, Karachi	3		3
1966–67	West Indies	Colombo Oval, Colombo	1		1
1969–70	Australians	Colombo Oval, Colombo	1			1
Totals			23	3	9	11

Sri Lanka had associate member status of the International Cricket Council from 1965 to 1981 when they would be awarded full membership.^[20]

West Indies visited Ceylon in January 1967 and played a single first-class match at the Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu Stadium in Colombo versus Ceylon. The match was drawn. West Indies was captained by Gary Sobers who scored 115 in his team's only innings. Other centuries were scored by Basil Butcher and Clive Lloyd.

It was not until 1969–70 that another Australian team arrived in Ceylon. This team played one first-class match against the national Ceylon team before going on to India for a five-Test series.

1970s

First-class matches played by Ceylon, 1970s

Season	Opponent	Venue	Played	Won	Lost	Drawn
First-class matches
1969–70	Marylebone Cricket Club	Colombo Oval, Colombo	1		1
1970–71	Kerala cricket team	University Stadium, Trivandrum	1	1
1970–71	Andhra Chief Minister's XI	Brahmananda Reddy Stadium, Guntur	1	1
1970–71	Tamil Nadu cricket team	Madras Cricket Club Ground, Madras	1			1
Totals			4	2	1	1

Pakistan visited Sri Lanka in November 1972 to play a single first-class match versus the Sri Lanka national team at the Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu Stadium in Colombo. The match was drawn after being affected by rain. Pakistan, captained by Intikhab Alam, scored 262–8 declared and 48–3 declared. Sri Lanka scored 133 and 120–3.

India toured Sri Lanka in January and February 1974. They played two first-class and two limited overs matches versus Sri Lanka and two further first-class matches versus the Sri Lanka Board president's XI. India defeated Sri Lanka at the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground by 6 wickets but the other three first-class games were impacted by the weather and were drawn.

West Indies visited Sri Lanka in February 1975 as part of a wider tour of India and Pakistan. Captained by Clive Lloyd, West Indies played two first-class matches against Sri Lanka, that were both drawn, and a limited overs match that West Indies won by 8 wickets.

Sri Lanka first competed in top level international cricket in 1975, when they played against the West Indies during 1975 Cricket World Cup; the West Indies won the match by 9 wickets at the Old Trafford, Manchester, England.^[21]

Pakistan toured Sri Lanka in January 1976 to play three first-class and two limited overs matches. Sri Lanka surprisingly won the opening first-class match at Colombo Cricket Club Ground by 4 wickets and then Pakistan won the second match at the same venue by the same margin. In between, Pakistan played the Sri Lanka Board president's XI at Asgiriya Stadium in Kandy and they won this by 7 wickets.

English team D. H. Robins' XI visited Sri Lanka in 1977–78

Pakistan, captained by Majid Khan, visited Sri Lanka in April 1979 to play a limited overs match versus the Sri Lanka national team. The match at the Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu Stadium was won by Pakistan by 55 runs after scoring 164–8 in their 40 overs. Sri Lanka in reply could only manage 109–8.

West Indies visited Sri Lanka in February 1979. The main first-class match with Sri Lanka at Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu Stadium in Colombo was drawn. West Indies had previously drawn a warm-up game against Sri Lanka Board president's XI at Colombo Cricket Club Ground. West Indies also played three limited overs matches.

In 1979 they won the ICC Trophy, qualifying for the 1979 Cricket World Cup, where their first One Day International win against a Test cricket playing nation came in the against India.

1980s

The 1981 Australians to England played a match in Colombo against Sri Lanka only months before Sri Lanka achieved Test status.

On 21 July 1981, Sri Lanka was admitted by the International Cricket Council as a full member and was awarded Test cricket status, becoming the eighth Test playing nation. They played their first Test match against England at Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu Stadium, Colombo on 17 February 1982. Bandula Warnapura was the captain for Sri Lanka in that match, which England was victorious by 7 wickets.^[22]

The Zimbabwe national cricket team toured Sri Lanka in December 1983. At this time, Sri Lanka had just achieved Test status but Zimbabwe had not. The Zimbabwe team played two first-class matches versus Sri Lanka Board president's XI at Tyronne Fernando Stadium and a Sri Lankan XI at Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu Stadium. Both games were drawn. Zimbabwe also played three limited overs matches against the Sri Lankan XI.

The English cricket team made a short stopover in Sri Lanka en route to India in 1984–85.

New Zealand played two limited overs internationals against Sri Lanka in 1984–85. Sri Lanka won the first match by 4 wickets and New Zealand won the second by 7 wickets.

They had to wait until 6 September 1985, where Sri Lanka recorded their first Test win, under the leadership of Duleep Mendis, by beating India, in the second match of the series by 149 runs at the Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu Stadium, Colombo.^[23][24]

1990s

Sri Lanka had to wait for more than 7 years for their next series victory, which came against New Zealand in December 1992. Sri Lanka won the two Test match series 1-0.^[25] This was immediately followed by a 1 wicket victory against England in a Test series containing a solitary Test match.^[26]

2 years later, on 15 March 1995, Sri Lanka won its first overseas Test match under the leadership of Arjuna Ranatunga against New Zealand, when they beat them by 241 runs at Napier.^[27] This win also resulted in their first overseas Test series victory, 1-0.^[28] Their next series too was an overseas series, against Pakistan, and that one too resulted in Sri Lankan victory.^[29]

1996 Cricket World Cup

1996 Cricket World Cup, hosted by India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan team was led by Arjuna Ranatunga, where they played their first round in Group A with Australia, West Indies, India, Zimbabwe and Kenya. Australia and The West Indies forfeited the matches against Sri Lanka held in Sri Lankan soil due to safety concerns, so Sri Lanka won both matches by a walkover. Sri Lanka won against Zimbabwe by 6 wickets, courtesy of Aravinda de Silva's 91 runs. Sanath Jayasuriya overtook Indian bowlers in the next match, where Sri Lanka won the match by 6 wickets. The last group match was against Kenya, Sri Lanka recorded the highest team total in that time by scoring 398/5, Aravinda again played a gem of an inning with 145 runs. This score was the highest score by a Sri Lankan player in the World Cup.

In the first quarter finals, Sri Lanka played with England, where Sanath devastated the English players with his fast 82 runs just off 44 balls. Sri Lanka won the match by 5 wickets and progressed through to their first semi finals in the World Cup. Sri Lanka met India again in the semi-final, and the match was played in Kolkata, at the Eden Gardens, under the eyes of a lot of Indian fans. Sri Lanka came into bat first, but their first three wickets were taken very early. But then, Aravinda and Roshan Mahanama paced the innings with their half-centuries. Skipper Arjuna and Hashan Tillakaratne also played valuable innings. Indian pacer Javagal Srinath took 3 wickets.

Sri Lanka finished with 251/8 in 50 overs, giving Indians a good chance of winning the match. But the Sri Lankan bowling was so good, Navjot Singh Sidhu and skipper Mohammad Azharuddin got out very early. Sachin Tendulkar along with Sanjay Manjrekar slowly built the innings, but their wickets gave Sri Lanka a big chance of winning. When India was 120/8, the Indian fans got aggressive, throwing bottles and other materials into the ground, where the match could not be continued further. The umpires went onto a discussion with both teams and decided to award the match to Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka went on to their first finals in World Cup history.

The finals was against Australia led by Mark Taylor at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore. Before the match, former 1992 Cricket World Cup winning captain Imran Khan talked with Sri Lankan captain Ranatunga, stating that if they won the toss, to choose batting first. This was because the ground was more favorable to batting first and bowling under lights. In the toss however, Ranatunga won the match, but chose to field first. After a blazing start from captain Mark Taylor and young superstar and future captain Ricky Ponting, Australia fell from being 1–137 to 5–170 after which Sri Lanka's four prong spin attack took its toll. After Australia crashed to a 7–241 in its quota of 50 overs, Sri Lanka overcame a nervous start where they lost both openers before the score was 30, to win in 45 overs. Sri Lankan batting sensation Aravinda played a match-winning knock of 107, not out, and was assisted ably by fellow veterans Asanka Gurusinha (65) and captain Ranatunga (47*). De Silva was named man of the match after he had taken 3–42 in his 10 overs eairlier in the Australian innings & Sanath Jayasuriya got man of the series award.

Sri Lankan cricket's greatest moment undoubtedly came during the aforementioned 1996 World Cup, when they defeated the top-ranked Australian team under the capaincy of Arjuna Ranatunga and the extraordinary performance of Aravinda de Silva in the finals. Sri Lanka's game style over the course of the series revolutionised One Day International Cricket, and was characterised by the highly aggressive batting of their openers Sanath Jayasuriya and Romesh Kaluwitharana in the first fifteen overs of the innings to take advantage of the fielding restrictions imposed during this period. This strategy has since become a hallmark of One Day International cricket.

1999 Cricket World Cup

1999 Cricket World Cup hosted by England and Netherlands, where Sri Lanka came as defending champions. Ranatunga again led the team with 1996 World Cup winning members - Jayasuriya, Muralitharan, Mahanama, Hashan, Kalu, Vaas, Aravinda, Pramodya and Upul Chandana. They grouped in Group A with South Africa, India, Zimbabwe, England and Kenya.

Sri Lanka played their first group match with England, where they only scored 204 bowled out in 48.2 overs. the high bouncing pitches gave the subcontinent players a real headache. England won the match comfortably by 8 wickets. In the second group match, against South Africa, they played badly. By chasing 199 runs of South Africa, Sri Lanka only scored 110 runs, only Mahanama scored 36 runs. Against Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka finally won the match by 4 wickets. Zimbabwe only scored 197/9 and Sri Lanka scored 198/6. Next match was with India, where they posted 373/6 in total with Sourav Ganguly played a magnificent 183 runs in 158 balls. Sri Lanka played only 216/10, and India won by 157 runs. With this loss, Sri Lanka eliminated from the World Cup. Being the champions in last World Cup, this world cup campaign was really disappointed. Their last match was against Kenyans, where Sri Lanka won the match by 45 runs.

2000s

On 14 June 2000, Sri Lanka played their 100th match against Pakistan on 14 June, 2000. They played this match at SSC, Colombo under the leadership of Sanath Jayasuriya. Pakistan won the watch by 5 wickets.^[30]

They have also won the 2001-02 Asian Test Championship, defeating Pakistan in the final by an innings and 175 runs.^[31]

2003 Cricket World Cup

2003 Cricket World Cup was moved to the African continent, where South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya hosted the tournament. Sanath Jayasuriya led the team. The team was grouped in Pool B with South Africa, New Zealand, West Indies, Bangladesh, Canada and Kenya. The first match was against New Zealand, where Blackcaps captain Stephen Fleming won the toss and sent Sri Lanka in to bat first. Sri Lanka’s opening batsmen- Jayasuriya and Marvan Atapattu were going strong and kept a steady run rate until the fifth over when they conceded their first wicket. Skipper Jayasuriya dominated the Blackcaps bowling attack by scoring 120 runs. The final score at the end of the innings was 272/7. The second innings didn’t start very well for New Zealand, losing their opening batsman, Nathan Astle, in the first over and captain Flemming in the second. The first real form of excitement came for New Zealand supporters when Styris and Cairns start hitting a few boundaries. Scott Styris overpassed Jayasuriya's batting by his 141 runs, but New Zealand all out for 217 in the total. Sri Lanka won by 47 runs and Jayasuriya was named man of the match.

Next match was against Bangladesh, where Chaminda Vaas became the only bowler to claim a hat tricks in the first three balls of any form of international cricket when he took the first three wickets off the opening three balls of the match. With this feat, Vaas became the third of only four players to have achieved two hat tricks. Bangladesh poorly scored 124/10. Sri Lankan opening batsmen reached the target without a wicket falling. At the very next match against Canada, Sri Lanka again involved for a World record, where Canada total of 36 was the lowest total in World Cup history and second lowest in all ODIs. Sri Lanka comfortably won the match by 9 wickets.

All these World Record matches next became a desperate sad for all the Sri Lankans. They lost the match to underdog Kenyans for the first time. The match was at Kenyan soil, Kenya batted first and scored Kennedy Otieno scored 60 runs. Murali took 4 wickets and Vaas with 3 wickets. Sri Lanka came to bat, only Aravinda scored 41 runs. All the others scored less than 30. Sri Lanka all out for just 157 runs in 45 overs. This was the first time that, Sri Lanka lost a match to affiliate nation. Against West Indies, Sri Lanka back in the game, where they chased 222 runs and won the match by 4 wickets. Last group match was against South Africa, Sri Lanka batted first and scored 268/9. South Africa was at 229/6 when rain came. According to Duckworth–Lewis method, match was tied. Finally Sri Lanka reached top of the Pool B, and selected for the quarter finals.

In the quarter finals, they lost to Australia and India, only won over Zimbabwe. This result gave them fourth place in standings, where Kenya recorded first semi-final occasion in the history. Sri Lanka's semi-final was against Australia. On a difficult, slow pitch at Port Elizabeth, Australia struggled their way to 212 (7 wickets, 50 overs) against tight Sri Lankan bowling, thanks mainly to a great innings from Andrew Symonds (91* from 118 balls, 7 fours, 1 six), demonstrating again captain Ricky Ponting's faith in him. Vaas, continuing his excellent tournament, took three wickets. Australia's pace attack then ripped through the Sri Lankan top order, with Brett Lee (3/35 in 8 overs) taking three early wickets and Glenn McGrath (1/20 in 7 overs) taking one. By the time rain arrived in the 39th over, continued tight bowling had squeezed Sri Lanka to 123 (7 wickets, 38.1 overs), well behind the target given by the Duckworth–Lewis method. This is the match in which Adam Gilchrist famously "walked" despite being given not out.

2007 Cricket World Cup

West Indies islands hosted the 9th Cricket World Cup, where Sri Lanka was led by Mahela Jayawardena. The 12 teams were grouped into four groups, with Sri Lanka in group B. India, Bangladesh and Bermuda played with Sri Lanka in group matches. Bermuda's World Cup debut became the second-heaviest defeat at the World Cup, 40 runs worse than Scotland's defeat the day before. After Sri Lanka won the toss and batted, they scored 321/6 in 50 overs while skipper Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara and Chamara Silva all collected half-centuries. Kevin Hurdle took two wickets for Bermuda, but his second over lasted 14 balls due to no-balls and wides. Bermuda fell to 20 for four after Lasith Malinga had taken three wickets in three overs, ending with bowling figures of three for 10. With the seven first men down, Lionel Cann paired up with Delyone Borden for a 25-run partnership, the largest of the innings. Farveez Maharoof removed both before Murali had Dwayne Leverock lbw to end the innings for 78, Bermuda's lowest total ever in One-day Internationals. Sri Lanka won the match by 243 runs.

Next match for Sri Lanka was against Bangladesh, who won the match against India and was in good performance before coming to this match. But Bangladesh's chances of reaching the Super Eights by means of net run rate diminished after a 198-run defeat to Sri Lanka, the third-heaviest of their history and the largest since their 200-run defeat to India in 2003. It was only due to the rain during Bangladesh's innings and the consequently readjusted target that the margin of victory was smaller; Bangladesh were bowled out for 112, with all the Sri Lankan bowlers except Jayasuriya taking wickets, but Jayasuriya had already contributed with seven sixes in his 24th One-day International century as Sri Lanka totalled 318 for four. Spinners Mohammad Rafique and Abdur Razzak were the only ones to keep the economy rate below five an over, while for Sri Lanka only Russel Arnold cost more than five an over. Four Sri Lankan batsmen outscored Bangladesh' top-scoring batsman, Mohammad Ashraful, who made 45 not out from number seven.

Last group match was against the neighbors-India, who was at brink of eliminating from the tournament. So the match was highly valuable to Indians than Lankans. Sri Lanka, meanwhile, went through to the second stage unbeaten, after newcomers to the team Upul Tharanga and Chamara Silva both struck half-centuries and Murali took three wickets, including wicket-keeper MS Dhoni for a duck.

Indian pacer Zaheer Khan started off with a wide, but also had Jayasuriya caught behind in his opening spell, striking at the end of the seventh over, and also had Tharanga in trouble with in-cutters. Tharanga, however, batted through nearly two thirds of the match for his 64, and none of the bowlers managed to keep the run rate below four as Sri Lanka made it to 254 for six, due to poor cricket from India. For Sri Lanka, Vaas struck twice within eleven overs, taking a return catch off Robin Uthappa and having Ganguly caught for a 23-ball seven. Tendulkar followed in the next over, bowled by Dilhara Fernando for his second duck of the tournament, but Virender Sehwag and skipper Rahul Dravid made it through the next ten overs, before the "turning point" arrived when Murali had Sehwag caught at first slip in his third over; the next six overs yielded only 14 runs and two more wickets, after Dhoni went lbw to Murali, and India needed 141 runs off 22 overs. Despite double-digit scores from Ajit Agarkar, Harbhajan Singh and Munaf Patel, they were bowled out for 185. India eliminated and Sri Lanka through to Super 8s.

Super 8s has gone pretty well for Sri Lankans, with their performances, only lost to South Africa and Australia. In the first Super 8 match for Sri Lanka vs South Africa, Malinga became the first bowler to take four wickets with four consecutive deliveries in international cricket. Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat, and lost their first five wickets for 98, with Charl Langeveldt taking two in his first spell. Tillakaratne Dilshan and Russel Arnold built a sixth-wicket stand of 97 in nearly 20 overs, but Dilshan was caught off Makhaya Ntini's bowling, and then Langeveldt took 3 in 5 balls as Sri Lanka were bowled out in the final over for 209. In reply, Vaas had AB de Villiers bowled in the first over, but Jacques Kallis added 95 with Graeme Smith and 65 with Herschelle Gibbs, leading South Africa to within four runs of victory with his 86. Then Lasith Malinga struck and show begun. His four-in-four had Shaun Pollock, Andrew Hall, Kallis and Ntini. Though South Africa managed a run off Vaas in the intermediate over. South Africa now needed three runs to win with one wicket in hand, and eleven deliveries went by before Robin Peterson got an outside edge to a Malinga ball, which went out of reach of slip and went fine for four. South Africa won the match by only 1 wicket, in a very tied game. With this feat, Lasith Malinga became the only bowler to get four consecutive wickets in four balls in any form of the game.

Next match was against the hosts-West Indies. The start of the match was delayed due to bad weather, but a full 50-over match was played, which resulted in West Indies' third defeat in four days. Jayasuriya and Jayawardene added 183 for the third wicket, before Dilshan came in and took 39 off 22 deliveries as the final eleven overs yielded 84 runs. In reply, West Indies needed 170 off 94 when Ramnaresh Sarwan was stumped off Jayasuriya; they only got 56 of those, and were bowled out for 190, with four batsmen out in single figures. Sri Lanka won the match by huge 113 runs.

Against England, the match was again became a nail biter. Sri Lanka batted first and made 235, bowled out off the last ball with a run out. England lost their openers for 0 and 10, but Ian Bell and Kevin Pietersen made a stand of 90 for the third wicket, and skipper Paul Collingwood joined Pietersen to add a further 25 before Pietersen was caught and bowled by Murali. England then lost two more wickets for seven runs to Dilhara Fernando, and required 103 off 16.3 overs with four wickets in hand. However, Ravi Bopara scored a half-century in his fourth One-Day International innings, as he and Paul Nixon took England within three runs of victory. However, Fernando returned for the last over, and bowled Bopara off the last ball giving Sri Lanka victory. Sri Lanka won two of last three matches -won against New Zealand and Ireland, lost to Australia, secured their place to semi-finals.

In the semi, Sri Lanka met New Zealand again, where Sri Lanka scored 289/7 courtesy of century by skipper Jayawardena. New Zealand only scored 208 runs and eliminated from the World Cup. Sri Lanka selected for their second final in World Cups, against same opponent as in 1996-Australians. Aussie skipper Ricky Ponting won the toss and elected to bat. However, the start of play was delayed due to rain, and the match was reduced to 38 overs per side. Gilchrist played an incredible innings of 149 – the highest for any batsman in a World Cup final – to give Australia an imposing total going in at the break., but the innings was in controversy due to Gilchrist usage of squash ball inside the left glove.

While Sri Lankan batsmen Sangakkara and Jayasuriya were adding 116 for the second wicket, the contest was alive, but after the pair got out, Sri Lanka's chances slowly diminished. Further rain forced the reduction of Sri Lanka's innings to just 36 overs, with the target revised to 269. At the end of the 33rd over, with Sri Lanka still trailing the adjusted D/L target by 37 runs, the umpires suspended the game due to bad light. While Australia's players began to celebrate their victory (since the minimum 20 overs had been reached), the umpires incorrectly announced that because the match was suspended due to light and not rain, the final three overs would have to be bowled the following day. With Sri Lanka needing 61 runs from 18 deliveries, Jayawardene agreed there was no need to return the following day, and instructed his team to resume batting, with Ponting agreeing to play only spinners. The umpires later apologised for their error: the match should have ended then with Australia winning by 37 runs. The last three overs were played in almost complete darkness, during which Sri Lanka added just nine runs, giving Australia a 53-run victory by the D-L method, as Sri Lanka had batted two overs fewer than they had.

2007 ICC World Twenty20

The first edition of World Twenty20 World Championship, which was hosted by South Africa. Sri Lanka played under the captaincy of Mahela Jayawardena in Group C along with New Zealand and Kenya. First match was against Kenyans, which was a World Record breaking match. Kenya won the toss and gave Lankans to bat first. Tharanga and Jayasuriya started the innings, but Tharanga was bowled by Thomas Odoyo. Then Sangakkara joined Jayasuriya. Sangakkara bowled by Jimmy Kamande when the score was 94 in 9 overs. The show time begun then, where Jayasuriya and Jayawardena scored unfaithfully for all the bowlers. Jayasuriya caught when he was in magnificent 88, with 11 fours and 4 sixes. Jayawardena on the other hand, played a brilliant innings, scored 65 from just 27 ball when until he was lbw. Sri Lanka was 215/6 in 18 overs, when Jehan Mubarak came to the crease. He scored an unbelievable sixes down the ground to Nehemiah Odhiambo and Peter Ongondo. He smashed 46 off 13 balls with 3 fours and 5 huge sixes. The strike rate of this innings was 353.84. Sri Lanka finished with 260/6, which recorded highest T20 total in any top-level Twenty20 match. Kenyans came to bat with chasing the huge task. Vaas immediately made a breakthrough, dismissing opening batsman Maurice Ouma for a duck. Kenya never recovered, and were reduced to just 88 runs in the 20th over as Sri Lanka dismissed their batsmen cheaply. The win, by 172 runs, is the largest margin of victory in a Twenty20 internationals.

Next group match was with Blackcaps, where they scored 164/7. Sri Lanka won the match in 18.5 overs with 3 wickets gone. Jayasuriya became the Man-of-the-Match in both these matches. Within Super 8s, Sri Lanka qualified to Group F. In first Super 8 match with Pakistan, Sri Lanka lost by 33 runs. In the next match against Bangladesh, they bounced back well with a 64 run victory. The crucial match to qualify for the semi-finals was with Australians and Sri Lanka only scored 101 against Aussie pacers. Australia won the match by 10 wickets and Sri Lanka eliminated from the tournament.

2009 Lahore attack

On 3 March 2009, the Sri Lankan team's convoy was attacked in Lahore, Pakistan by gunmen. This led to the death of five policemen and injuries to seven cricketers and a member of the coaching team.^[32] The team was on its way to the Gaddafi Stadium where they were scheduled to begin the third day of the Second Test. After the incident the test match was called off by the Sri Lankan Cricket board. Sri Lanka had agreed to tour Pakistan, replacing India who refused to do so citing security concerns.^[33]

2009 ICC World Twenty20

The second T20 tournament was given England to host. Kumar Sangakkara led the Sri Lankan team in the tournament. Within Group C, they played with West Indies and Australia. Sri Lanka gain prominence in World Twenty20 arena with this series. Against Australia, Sri Lanka won by 6 wickets, eliminating Australia for the first time from group stage in a major tournament. Ajantha Mendis took 3 wickets, and in batting, skipper Sangakkara scored unbeaten 55. Next match was with West Indies, who were in poor performance in the T20 cricket. Sri Lanka batted first scored 192/5 courtesy of blistering 81 runs from Jayasuriya. Tillakaratne Dilshan, who was promoted to open the batting with Jayasuriya, gain attention from the crowd, due to his innovative stroke play. The shot he played above the Wicket-keeper's head, came to known as "Dilscoop". He played the shot in almost every match in this series, which earned him good runs. West Indies only scored 177/5 in 20 overs and Sri Lanka through to the Super 8s.

Pakistan, New Zealand, and Ireland played with Sri Lanka in Group F of Super 8s. Against Pakistan, Sri Lanka won the match by 19 runs. Dilshan scored 46 runs with some innovative Dilscoops. Against Ireland, Sri Lanka won by 9 runs, where Irish players came hard at Lankan bowlers. In the last Super 8 match, Sri Lanka beat New Zealand by 48 runs. Dilshan played another magnificent 48 runs and Mendis took 3/9 in the bowling. The semi-final was against West Indies for the second time in the tournament, where Sri Lanka scored 158/5 in their 20 overs. Dilshan scored another blistering knock with 96 unbeaten runs. He was just a boundary behind to score first T20I century by a Sri Lankan. Dilshan scored 60.76% of Sri Lanka's runs, which was a new Twenty20 International record. However, this only stood for a matter of hours, as Chris Gayle scored 62.38% of West Indies' total. West Indies scored just 101 all out in their 20 overs. Angelo Mathews proved his ability also with the ball, where he took first 3 wickets of West Indian top order. Sri Lanka easily moved to their first T20 International final. However, Mahela ended the tournament as highest run scorer with 302 runs.

In the final at Lord's, Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat. The first over was bowled by Mohammad Amir. After failing to score off the first four balls – all short – Dilshan went for his scoop and mistimed it, resulting in him being caught at short fine-leg. Soon after this, Mubarak top edged a delivery by Abdul Razzaq which went high in the air and was caught by Shahzaib Hasan, leaving Sri Lanka at 2 for 2. Jayasuriya was able to stabilise the innings for Sri Lanka hitting 17 runs off 10 balls, however, Jayasuriya soon fell as he dragged a good length ball back on to the stumps. Jayawardene followed after edging a shot into the hands of Misbah-ul-Haq, leaving Sri Lanka on 32/4. Sangakkara and Chamara Silva added further runs, before the latter was caught by Saeed Ajmal playing a pull shot off the bowling of Umar Gul. Pakistani captain Afridi soon after, took the wicket of Isuru Udana with a googly which drifted into the right-hander, knocking the off-stump. This brought in Mathews, who along with Sangakkara took the score from 70/6 to 138/6, with 17 runs being scored off the last over bowled by Mohammad Amir. Sri Lanka finished on 138/6 from 20 overs.

Pakistan started off well with openers Kamran Akmal and Shahzaib Hasan adding 48 run for the 1st wicket, before Kamran Akmal was stumped by Sangakkara by the first delivery of Jayasuriya. Pakistan reached the target in 18.4 overs, with Shahid Afridi, who hit the winning runs, earning Man of the Match while Tillakaratne Dilshan was declared Man of the Series for his 317 runs at an average of 63.40.

2010s

2010 ICC World Twenty20

Although the tournament was held every two years beginning in 2007, the scheduled ICC Champions Trophy ODI tournament to be held in the West Indies in 2010 was revised to a Twenty20 format because the 2008 ICC Champions Trophy tournament in Pakistan was postponed due to security concerns and there was a need to correct the international cricketing tournament calendar. This ICC World Twenty20 took place only 10 months after the last one.

In this third T20I occasion, Sri Lanka was again led by Kumar Sangakkara. Sri Lanka was in Group B with New Zealand and Zimbabwe. The first match was with New Zealand, where Sri Lanka scored only 135/6 with 81 of Mahela. In chasing, New Zealand were shaky in the start, but Jesse Ryder recovered the match to their way with 27 ball 42 runs. At the end, New Zealand won by 2 wickets, with a six scored by Nathan McCullum to Chaminda Vaas in last over.

In next match, Mahela scored first T20 International century which is scored by a Sri Lankan, against Zimbabwe. He reach hundred with 64 balls. With this century he became the fourth man in all T20 Internationals, and the third in the ICC World Twenty20 Cricket history to score a century. Zimbabwe came to the crease to chase 173 of Lankans, but rain interrupted when they were 29/1 in 5 overs. With this Sri Lanka won the match by 14 in D/L method.

In Super 8 stage at Group F, Sri Lanka won against West Indies by 57 runs. In this match, Mahela came very close to score his second consecutive century but overs ended when he was not out in 98. Against Indian in the next match, India scored 163/5, where Sri Lanka chased the scored with only 5 wickets down. With 2 wins and 1 loss, Sri Lanka selected for their second consecutive T20I World Cup semi-finals. This time with England. Sri Lanka batted first, but couldn't reach even 150 mark. They scored 128 runs only. Sri Lankan hopes came fade with this performance, where Kevin Pietersen (42 from 26 balls) attacked Sri Lankan bowling line-up. He took the match away from Lankans, and England finally won by 7 wickets.

2011 Cricket World Cup

India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka jointly hosted the 10th edition of Cricket World Cup. Kumar Sangakkara led the Sri Lankan side. In group A, Sri Lanka played with Pakistan, Australia, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Canada and Kenya. They started off their tournament against minnows Canada. They won the toss and elected to bat first. Canada bowled well in the early overs, but did not get a wicket, as openers Tharanga and Dilshan reached 50 runs. When the first wicket did fall, it was a run-out when the batsmen had a mix-up with the score at 63, and Tharanga was dismissed. Dilshan got to his half-century, but fell trying to go for a big hit. The Canadians restricted Sri Lanka to 88/2 with over 19 overs bowled; but the two experienced Sri Lankan batsmen, captain Sangakkara and Jayawardene came together and got a partnership of 50. Both batsmen got the run rate to over 6 and both seemed to be coasting to their centuries, until Sangakkara on 92 gave a simple return catch to John Davison with the score at 267/2. Jayawardene reached his century but fell immediately afterwards. More wickets fell and the game got hot-tempered, with a confrontation between Angelo Mathews and Harvir Baidwan and Sri Lanka finished with 332/7.

The Canadian chase went nowhere, with Thisara Perera and Nuwan Kulasekara getting three wickets quickly. Captain Ashish Bagai tried to lead a recovery, but once Perera took his wicket to reduce Canada to 53/5, all doubts about the result finished. Big-hitter Rizwan Cheema took 37, including two huge sixes off spinner Murali, but the latter ultimately got his wicket as Canada fell to 122 all out. Sri Lanka won the match by 210 runs.

Next match was with Pakistani team, which gave Lankans their first World Cup defeat in home soil. Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi won the toss and decided to bat first against Sri Lanka, one of the pre-tournament favorites. Sri Lanka got the wicket of Ahmed Shehzad in the sixth over, but Pakistan still managed to proceed along at a rapid run rate in the first ten overs. Mohammed Hafeez, proceeded along at over a run a ball until a mix up with Kamran Akmal had him run out, and Kamran himself was stumped a few overs later to leave the match evenly poised at 105/3 in the 21st over. Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq then built a 104 run partnership in 20 overs without taking too many risks, until Younis fell to Rangana Herath for 72 while trying to accelerate. Misbah stayed not out till the end for a well made 83, kept Pakistan to 277/7 at the end.

Sri Lanka started off with a very good reply, with their openers Tharanga and Dilshan accelerating steadily after a slow start to add 76 in just over 14 overs until Hafeez had Tharanga caught at point. This was the turning point of the match, as three more wickets, including that of Dilshan fell soon after to leave Sri Lanka tottering at 96/4. Sangakkara rode his luck with Kamran missing two stumpings off him, and staged a recovery with Chamara Silva, but his luck eventually ran out as the required run rate went up, with Afridi having him caught at long on one short of his fifty. Jayawadena was bowled by pacer Shoaib Akhtar with a magnificent in swing. Silva struggled to time the ball early in his innings, being 16 off 49 balls at one point, but he then accelerated rapidly to reach his half-century, but Afridi returned to remove dangerous looking Angelo Mathews. Silva eventually fell for 57 when Kamran did get a stumping right, and despite Kulasekara's cameo, Sri Lanka ended up 11 short.

In the next match against Kenyans, Malinga took a hat-trick, the second in his career. He became the first bowler to take two World Cup hat-tricks, and the fourth bowler to take two career ODI hat-tricks. Sri Lanka comfortably chased the target of 146b by giving one wicket only.

Sri Lanka against Australia match was abandoned due to heavy rain. In the next match against Zimbabwe, Tharanga and Dilshan set a new World Cup record for the opening partnership, scoring 282 runs, beating the previous record of 194. It was also the first occasion in a World Cup that both openers made a century. With their victory over Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka became the first team to qualify for the Quarter Finals of the tournament. In reply, Zimbabwe made a good start, but were dismissed for 188 runs with 11 overs spare. As in previous wins against New Zealand, this New Zealand vs Sri Lanka match was not a surprising one, because Lankans were the better ones to win the match even before the match. Skipper Sangakkara scored 111 runs and Lankans managed to get 265/9. Blackcaps were struggled from the very first ball, where they were all out for 153.

In the quarter finals, Sri Lankan counterpart was England. England total of 229 was easily reached by Dilshan and Tharanga. Both made centuries as Sri Lanka chased down a target by ten wickets. This run chase set a new record for the highest successful run chase in a ten-wicket victory in ODI history. Sri Lanka qualified easily for the semi-finals. In the semi-finals, for a second consecutive time Sri Lanka defeated New Zealand in the semi-finals of the World Cup and made it to the finals. This was the last match Murali played on Sri Lankan soil. Sri Lanka won the match by 5 wickets and reached their first consecutive World Cup final.

Sri Lanka started the innings slowly, constrained by good bowling from Zaheer and committed fielding from Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, and Virat Kohli inside the 30-yard circle. Zaheer began with three consecutive maidens and the wicket of Tharanga, conceding only six runs in his five-over spell. Dilshan was bowled by Harbhajan when a delivery carried on to the stumps after deflecting off his gloves. Sangakkara came in after Tharanga's dismissal, and was building a solid foundation with Dilshan before the latter was dismissed. Jayawardene came to the crease when Sri Lanka were 60/2 in the 17th over. Sangakkara and Mahela went about the task of consolidating the innings, but eventually Sangakkara was caught behind by Dhoni at 48. New batsman Thilan Samaraweera was adjudged not out by the umpire when a ball hit his thigh pad off the bowling of Yuvraj Singh. The Indians decided to review the decision and he was ultimately given out. Chamara Kapugedera, who was playing his first World Cup match, was caught off a deceptive slower ball by Zaheer Khan. Jayawardene, meanwhile, continued with his quality batting, ultimately scoring 103 not out from 88 balls in a high-class batting display. Helped by the hard-hitting of Kulasekara and Thisara, Sri Lanka scored 91 runs in the last 10 overs, including 63 in the batting powerplay (45–50 overs) to take the score to 274/6.

India had a shaky start, with Sehwag and Tendulkar both early by Malinga, leaving them struggling at 31 for two. Kohli and Gautam Gambhir started the recovery with some fluent stroke play and quick running between wickets, taking India to 114 before Kohli was caught-and-bowled by Dilshan for 35. When he was on 30, Gambhir mistimed a shot off the bowling of Suraj Randiv, sending the ball high up in the air, but Kulasekara could not hold on to a difficult chance at long off. Kohli and Gambhir put together an 83-run partnership before Kohli's dismissal. Dhoni came in after Kohli to bat at number five. Gambhir and Dhoni added 109 for the fourth wicket with Gambhir scoring 97. Gambhir tried to finish his century with a boundary, but was bowled by Thisara. Following Gambhir's dismissal, 52 runs were required off 52 balls. Yuvraj and Dhoni took India to victory, and Dhoni sealed the match hitting a six off Kulasekara, when only 4 runs were required off 11 balls. Dhoni finished on 91 not out from 79 deliveries. With this defeat, Sri Lanka lost their second consecutive World Cup final defeat in ODIs.

2012 ICC World Twenty20

Finally, Sri Lanka hosted a World T20 after being the runner-up in 2011 Cricket World Cup. This is the 2012 ICC World Twenty20 tournament held in an Asian country, the last three having been held in South Africa, England and the West Indies. Sri Lankan pacer Lasith Malinga has been chosen as the event ambassador of the tournament by ICC. Sri Lanka was led by Mahela Jayawarderna for the second time after 2007 World Twenty20. Sri Lanka played in Group C with South Africa and Zimbabwe. All group matches were held in Hambantota.

The first match of the tournament was between the Hosts and Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe won the toss and put Sri Lanka onto bat. They finished with 182/4 in 20 overs, giving a huge task for opposite. Zimbabwe came to the crease, but didn't took too long to dismissed to 100 runs on the board. Ajantha Mendis was all over the vultures, where he took 6 wickets for 8 runs, giving Sri Lanka a 82 run victory. This is the best bowling figures in Twenty20 International history, that was previously also held by Mendis against Aussies. (6/13)

In the next against Proteas, rain interrupted in numerous occasions, which gave only 7 over per side match. South Africa batted first and AB de Villiers smashed 30 runs from 13 balls, where they finished with 78/4 in 7 overs. Sri Lanka was not good at all, only scored 46/5, no any batsmen scored more than 15 runs. South Africa won the match by 32 runs, which is a huge margin in T20s. However, both team qualified for the Super 8s.

Sri Lanka played in Group 1 with West Indies, England, and New Zealand. Against New Zealand, the match was tied, where both teams scored 174. But, Sri Lanka had good chance to win the match, wickets in last over and misunderstandings gave a tied game. However, Sri Lanka won the Super Over and won the match. In the next two matches, Sri Lanka won very easily against West Indies and England.

The Sri Lankan third consecutive World T20 semi-final was against Pakistanis. Sri Lanka scored 139/4, where Mahela paced the innings with his 42 runs. While chasing, skipper Mohammad Hafeez scored 40 runs, all the other players were undone by Rangana Herath. The 16 runs victory gave Sri Lankans to win their first T20 title, which was against West Indies.

After Chris Gayle, who had decimated Australia in the semifinals, was dismissed for just 3 to leave the West Indies at 2-14 after 5.5 overs, Marlon Samuels produced 78 from 55 balls, including the longest six of the tournament at 108 meters. Captain Darren Sammy also led a late charge that produced 108 runs in the latter 10 overs to set Sri Lanka a target of 138. They then restricted Sri Lanka to 39/1 after eight overs, produced two run outs and held each Sri Lankan batsman to no more than 33 (posted by captain Mahela Jayawardene). Kulasekara mustered a brief fightback (26 runs from 16 balls) but holed out to leave the tail end exposed, and Sri Lanka was soon all out 36 runs short. Samuels earned Man of the Match honours for being the top-scoring batsman on either side while also taking 1-15 in his four overs of bowling. For the first time, a host nation (Sri Lanka) competed in the final of the ICC World Twenty20. Ajantha Mendis was the highest wicket-taker with 15 wickets.

2014 ICC World Twenty20

As the runner-up of previous World T20 competition, Sri Lanka went Bangladesh under the captaincy of Dinesh Chandimal to 2014 ICC World Twenty20. In the group stage at Super 10 stage, they played with South Africa, New Zealand, England, and Netherlands. In the first match, Sri Lanka played with South Africa. Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat first. They had a good understanding about Bangladeshi pitches, due to Bangladesh bilateral tournament and 2014 Asia Cup, which was held prior to the World T20 at the same site. Sri Lankan opener Kusal Perera reminded all sorts of aggressive shots by legendary Sanath Jayasuriya. Kusal's master stroke was a photocopy of Jayasuriya and he devastated Dale Steyn, Morné Morkel, and Lonwabo Tsotsobe. He scored 61 runs off 40 balls giving Sri Lanka a total of 165/7. South Africans was not down as yet, where they progressively built the innings. With the wickets in crucial intervals, they ended up in the losing side with 5 runs short. Kusal was the Man-of-the-Match.

The next match was against talented Netherlands, who show their powerful strokes against Ireland in this tournament. But all those stroke play was undone by magnificent bowling by Mathews, Kulasekara, and Malinga. Dutch were all out for 39 runs, which is the lowest by any team in a T20I match. Sri Lanka chased this easy target by 5 overs, which also earns Biggest victory in terms of balls remaining in all T20I.

In the very next match against England, beat Sri Lanka by 6 wickets with courtesy of unbeaten 116 by Alex Hales. Sri Lanka batted first and scored 189/4. Mahela scored 89 runs. England always maintained the required run rate very well, which gave them a fast hitting in last few overs. England scored 190/4 in 19.2 and won the match.

The last group match was a thrilling match for the both teams, where Sri Lanka came as the favorites to win the match. Skipper Chandimal was out of play due to some injuries, so Lasith Malinga captained the match. By batting first, Sri Lanka scored only 119 all out, Mahela scored 25 runs as the best batsman. Blackcaps came to the crease as the favorites to win the match, because 120 is not a huge task at all to them as smashers - Brendon McCullum, Martin Guptill, Ross Taylor, and Corey Anderson. During the match, Anderson was injured and so New Zealand played with only 10 players in batting. New Zealand started pretty well with Guptill and Kane Williamson. At this time, Malinga decided to go with Rangana Herath, who turned the match in nowhere. Herath ball Guptill and he lunges forward to push to mid-on. Sets off for a single straight away but his partner is not at all interested. The bowler is wise to the mistake, rushes across to his right and cuts the ball in its path and sends in a rocket throw and Sangakkara whips the bails off. After this run-out, it wall all Herath. he stumped skipper McCullum, then caught Ross Taylor to lbw. Next, Herath bowled James Neesham in first ball he faced. He then captured Luke Ronchi for lbw, and New Zealand were never in the game. Finally New Zealand all out for just 60 runs, which is the lowest score by a test playing nation in Twenty20 Internationals. Herath finished with 5 wickets for 3 runs, earned him Man-of-the-match. With this win, Sri Lanka moved their fourth consecutive World T20 semi-finals.

The semi-finals was against defending World T20 champions- West Indies. Malinga again led the team. But this time, Lankans were all over West Indies, where Sri Lanka scored 160/6. In chasing, West Indies was 80/4 when rain came into play. Rain and hail ended the match after 13.5 overs in the West Indies' innings. Their par score was 107 runs according to the Duckworth–Lewis method. So, Sri Lanka won by 27 runs in D/L method. At the presentation, West Indies skipper Darren Sammy stated that, "rain and god gave Sanga and Mehela" a big farewell party. This World Cup belongs to them. So, good luck to both of them". The final was not easy at all, with their opposition being a difficult one - India. The match was led by Malinga for third time, where he gave permanent T20I captaincy.

Sri Lanka and India had played each other over sixty times in the last seven years, with India winning the majority of the matches. During the tournament India was the only unbeaten team heading into the final, whereas Sri Lanka had lost a group match to England. Despite this, statistically there had been little between the two teams during the tournament. India, sent into bat by Sri Lanka after they won the toss, posted 130 runs in their 20 overs. Virat Kohli top scored with 77, but Yuvraj Singh's 11 runs off 21 balls slowed the innings momentum in the final overs. Sri Lanka reached 134 runs in 17.5 overs with the loss of 4 wickets. Kumar Sangakkara, playing his last Twenty20 international match, guided Sri Lanka home with an unbeaten 52 runs. Sangakkara was named Player of the Match, while Kohli was named Player of the Tournament. After all losses in major World Cups in 4 times, Sri Lanka finally ended with Champions. With this match, Mahela and Sanga retired from twenty20 internationals. The words of Sammy became true at last.

2015 Cricket World Cup

The World cup was hosted by Australia and New Zealand in 2015. Sri Lanka was captained by Angelo Mathews. The first match was against New Zealand, where Blackcaps scored a huge total of 331/6 with blasted innings of Corey Anderson. Sri Lanka opened with very well, but the wickets in crucial intervals gave them a backward push. Lahiru Thirimanne scored 65 runs, and finally Sri Lanka bowled out for 233, with 98 runs lost at the end.

The next match was against debut World Cup contestants- Afghanistan. Afghanistan got off to a solid start before both their openers were dismissed off consecutive overs and the score read 40/2 in the tenth over. Asghar Stanikzai and Samiullah Shenwari built a steady third-wicket partnership which was broken when Afghanistan had reached 128 in the 28th over. Following this, Afghanistan started losing wickets at regular intervals to the Sri Lankan pace bowlers before finally being bowled out for 232 in 49.4 overs. Malinga and Mathews picked 3 wickets each for Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka's innings got off to a disastrous start as both openers fell for ducks within the second over, which was the second time in ODI history where this has occurred. Then in the sixth over, they lost the wicket of Sangakkara with the score at 18/3. They slipped into further trouble when Dimuth Karunaratne was dismissed in the 12th over with the Sri Lankan total still at 51. Then the maestro Jayawardene came to the crease. He and Mathews then added 126 runs for the fifth wicket and Mathews was run out for 44 and Jayawardene was dismissed soon after completing his 19th ODI hundred. Thisara, who came in to bat with Sri Lanka in a precarious position of 178/6, struck an unbeaten 47 from 26 balls to guide his team to a four-wicket win with ten balls to spare.

Against Bangladesh, Sri Lanka off to a flier with magnificent hundreds by Dilshan (161*) and Sangakkara (105*). With this century, Dilshan broke the earlier record of highest individual score by a Sri Lankan in World Cups by Aravinda (144). This century is also the highest individual score in an ODI without hitting a six. Bangladesh only scored 240/10 and Sri Lanka won the match by 92 runs.

Next match was against English, where English captain Eoin Morgan won the toss and elected to bat first. England openers started solidly, but, from 62/0, the innings was reduced to 101/3 in the 21st over. Joe Root and Morgan added 60 runs for the 4th wicket before the dismissal of Morgan. The fifth wicket partnership between Root and James Taylor yielded 98 runs in 11 overs. Taylor fell for 25, following which Root was also dismissed for a 108-ball 121. England were 265/6 in the 47th over, before Jos Buttler struck an unbeaten 39 in 19 balls to take the total to 309/6 at the end of 50 overs.

Sri Lankan innings began with Thirimanne being dropped on 3. His opening partner Dilshan was out for 44 immediately after their partnership had reached 100 runs. Sangakkara joined Thirimanne and the left-hand duo punished the England bowlers with each of the batsmen making hundreds. Thirimanne struck a six off the third ball of the 48th over to complete an emphatic 9-wicket victory. Thirimanne remained unbeaten on a 143-ball 139, while Sangakkara won the Man of the Match for his unbeaten 117 off just 86 balls. This was Sangakkara second consecutive century.

The match against Australians was a real thriller. Australia batted first where they posted a huge 376/9, with the help of brutal 51 ball century of Glenn Maxwell. Sri Lanka chasing was not good at first, where Thirimanne was got out early. but then Dilshan joined Sangakkara to a 196 run partnership. Dilshan hit six fours off an over, bowled by Mitchell Johnson, which was the first time this has happened in World Cup history. After dismissal of Dilshan, the middle-order failed to gain partnerships with Sangakkara, who batting really well. Sangakkara scored his third consecutive century. With Sanga's wicket, Sri Lanka lost wickets quickly and scored 312/9 in 50 overs. Australia won the match by 64 runs. In the last group stage match, Sri Lanka easily defeated Scotland by 148 runs. Sangakkara scored his fourth consecutive century by scoring 124 runs. He became the first batsman in ODI history to score 4 consecutive ODI centuries'. Sri Lanka scored 363/9. Scotland only scored 215 runs.

In the quarter final, Sri Lanka met South Africans. The match was a shock to all the fans across the globe, where Sri Lanka scored 133 runs all out. Sanga scored 45 runs and all the others were struggled by South African impressive bowling attack- Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Imran Tahir. South Africa won the match very easily, only one wicket fell. With this match, Sanga and Jayawardena ended their ODI career. This match gave Lankans, their first defeat without making for the semi-finals after 1999 World Cup.

2016 ICC World Twenty20

One of the major upsets in Sri Lankan cricket history came during this World Twenty20 series, which was held in India. Prior to the World Twenty20, Sri Lanka played 5 cricket series but lost every series with single victory against West Indies (Lost to Pakistan, New Zealand, India and 2016 Asia Cup). Permanent captain Lasith Malinga injured throughout all series, new Sri Lanka cricket selection committee appointed Angelo Mathews as the captain for World Twenty20, and Malinga eventually dropped from the squad quickly due to injury.

Lost both practice matches to New Zealand and Pakistan, Sri Lanka entered in to the Super 10 stage as the underdogs, not as the defending champions. First match was against Afghanistan, where they batted first and scored 153/7 in 20 overs with brilliant fifty by afghan captain Asghar Stanikzai. Sri Lanka started the chasing with a magnificent start, where they took 41 runs in powerplay. Chandimal eventually got out for 18 runs and Thirimanne also backed him in to pavilion after scored 6 runs. Thisara Perera and Chamara Kapugedera scored some shots, but the key performance came from the veteran Tillakaratne Dilshan. He scored unbeaten 83 runs by 56 runs, guided the team to win first match in the series.

Second match was against West Indies, where they looked so strong in the group. Sri Lanka batted first and only managed to score 122/9 in 20 overs. Few poor umpire decision gone wrong way to the Lankans as well, where lbw decision for Dilshan was highly criticised by the commentators. West Indies came to the crease, where Gayle was not in the frame. With the fast start with Andre Fletcher, Windies won the match by 7 wickets.

Third and most important match in the group came against England. England batted first and scored 171/4 with Jos Buttler's magnificent fifty. Sri Lanka in the chase, again looked so poor, where 50 runs for 5 wickets after 9 overs. The defending champions were on the brink of a huge defeat in the match, Angelo Mathews came to the crease. He with Kapugedera smashed England spinner in all corners where the match went down to the wire at the end. With falling wickets in regular intervals, Sri Lanka lost the match by 10 runs at the end, where skipper Mathews played a gem of an innings with a hamstring injury. But his 54 ball 73 was not enough at the end and Sri Lanka along with South Africa were eliminated from the World Twenty20.

Last match for Sri Lanka was against South Africa, which was the match for the pride for both teams. Sri Lankan start was superb, where Chandimal and Dilshan easily hit through all areas with ease. But with Chandimal got out to Aaron Phangiso, Sri Lanka batting card falling one after the other. With 19.3 overs, Sri Lanka were all out for just 120 runs. South Africa won the match easily by 8 wickets at the end. Throughout the tournament, no any Sri Lankan batsmen has been successful, where veteran Dilshan's 83 was the highest by a Sri Lankan at this World Twenty20. The poor performances in all three departments gave their losses in the tour.

See also

• Cricket in Sri Lanka

References

External links

• Ceylon - CricketArchive
• Sri Lanka - CricketArchive