The Sri Lanka men's national cricket team, nicknamed The Lions, represents Sri Lanka in men's international cricket. It was a Full Member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) with Test, One-Day International (ODI) and T20 International (T20I) status until it was suspended by ICC on 10 November 2023. The team first played international cricket in 1926–27 and became an associate member of ICC in 1965. They were later awarded Test status in 1981, which made Sri Lanka the eighth Test cricket-playing nation. The team is administered by Sri Lanka Cricket.
Kumar Chokshanada Sangakkara is a Sri Lankan former professional cricketer who represented Sri Lanka in 134 Test matches from 2000 to 2015, including fifteen as captain. In first-class cricket, he played for Nondescripts Cricket Club from 1997–98 to 2013–14 and for Surrey County Cricket Club from 2015 to 2017. He also played for numerous franchise teams. He was born in Matale, Central Province.
Thilan Thusara Samaraweera is a former Sri Lankan international cricketer. Samaraweera played international cricket for Sri Lanka. Known as Sri Lanka's crisis man and for his slow strike rate, He is also nicknamed “Bullet Samaraweera" following his wounding during the 2009 terror attack on his national team bus in Pakistan. He retired after over 80 matches with a batting average over 48 in Test cricket.
Tillakaratne Mudiyanselage Dilshan, commonly known as TM Dilshan is a former Sri Lankan cricketer and former captain of the Sri Lanka national cricket team. He is often regarded as the best rated Sri Lankan player in run-chases in ODI history and one of the most innovative players of all time. Dilshan is considered to be a rare example of a cricketer with notable skills in all aspects of the game, who can bat, bowl, field and keep wicket. He is an aggressive right-hand batsman who invented the scoop, which has come to be known as the Dilscoop, a shot that hits the ball over the keeper. Apart from being an opening batsman, he is also a capable off-break bowler. Energetic in the field, he usually fielded at the point region. He was part of the Sri Lankan team that won the 2014 ICC World Twenty20.
Deshabandu Marvan Samson Atapattu is a Sri Lankan cricket coach ,commentator and former cricketer who played for 17 years for Sri Lanka. Considered one of the most technically sound batsman in his era, Atapattu has scored six double centuries in Test cricket for Sri Lanka, irrespective of five ducks in his first six innings. Atapattu also captained the Sri Lankan team which won the 2004 Asia Cup.
Mohamed Farveez Maharoof, or Farveez Maharoof, is a professional Sri Lankan cricketer, who played Tests and ODIs. He first made his impression in the 2004 U19 World Cup in which he captained the Sri Lankan team. He enjoyed a prolific school career for Wesley College, with a highest score of 243 and best bowling figures of 8 for 20. An all-rounder, he made his Test debut in 2004.
Denagamage Praboth Mahela de Silva Jayawardene is a former professional cricketer and captain of the Sri Lankan national cricket team. He is the current consultant coach of the Sri Lankan national team and the head coach of the Indian Premier League franchise Mumbai Indians. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen from Sri Lankan cricket.
Deshabandu Handunnettige Deepthi Priyantha Kumar Dharmasena is a Sri Lankan cricket umpire and former international cricketer. He is a member of the Elite Panel of ICC Umpires and the first and only person to participate in an ICC Cricket World Cup final both as a player and an umpire, as he was a member of the Sri Lankan side that won the 1996 Cricket World Cup. He was a right-handed batsman and a right-arm off break bowler.
Warushavithana Upul Tharanga, commonly known as Upul Tharanga, is a former professional Sri Lankan cricketer, and a former limited over captain who played for all formats of the game. He is a left-handed opening batsman and occasional wicket-keeper. On 23 February 2021, Upul announced his retirement from international cricket.
Kaushalya Weeraratne also known as Kaushal Weeraratne is a former Sri Lankan international cricketer. After starting his international career as a bowler, he later moved up the order to become an all-rounder, batting in the middle order and bowling medium-fast. He is regarded as one of the players to have been included in the lost generation of Sri Lanka cricket according to Lasith Malinga, an elite list which include players who have performed consistently in domestic circuit for over ten years but had to toil hard to play in international cricket due to the presence of frontline players. Weeraratne once took 4 wickets in 5 balls in an Eastern Cricket Association Veterans game, which he described as his greatest ever bowling performance, given the quality of the opposition.
Angelo Davis Mathews is a professional Sri Lankan cricketer and a former captain in all formats. Even though he represented Sri Lanka in all three formats, Mathews currently plays Test cricket and ODI cricket for Sri Lanka. He was also a key member of the team that won the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 and was part of the team that made the finals of 2011 Cricket World Cup, 2009 ICC World Twenty20 and 2012 ICC World Twenty20. An occasional bowler who can deliver swinging match-winning spells, Mathews and Lasith Malinga hold the record for the highest ninth wicket partnership in ODI cricket. In July 2022, Mathews played in his 100th Test match for Sri Lanka. As captain, Mathews led his national team to be the winners of the 2014 Asia Cup. On 7th November 2023, Mathews became the first player in the history of international cricket to be declared timed out without facing a delivery, as it happened during a group stage match between Sri Lanka vs Bangladesh at the 2023 Cricket World Cup in India.
The 2008–09 international cricket season was between September 2008 and March 2009. The season saw the security concerns for cricket in Pakistan reach a pinnacle. The ICC Champions Trophy, scheduled to be held in Pakistan in September 2008, was postponed to 2009 after five of the participating nations refused to send their teams for the event. In November 2008, a Pakistani militant group launched terror attacks in Mumbai. This led to India cancelling their tour of Pakistan originally scheduled for January and February 2009. Sri Lanka agreed to tour Pakistan in place of India. However, the tour was jeopardised by a terror attack in Lahore where gunmen fired at a bus carrying the Sri Lankan team, injuring six team members. The Champions Trophy was later relocated to South Africa. No international cricket were played in Pakistan for more than five years. This period of isolation ended when Zimbabwe toured Pakistan in May 2015. After successfully hosting a few T20Is against World-XI, the Sri Lanka cricket team and the West Indians from 2017 to 2018, a few matches of the Pakistan Super League from 2017 to 2019, the whole season in 2020 as well as hosting complete tours against Sri Lankan and Bangladeshi cricket teams respectively during the 2019–20 season, built a good reputation of Pakistan. Hence, by the end of 2019, the Pakistan Cricket Board, announced that they would no longer play any of their future home matches at a neutral venue, indicating that International Cricket has returned to the country on full-time basis.
Between 2008 and 2009, major protests against the Sri Lankan Civil War took place in several countries around the world, urging national and world leaders and organisations to take action on bringing a unanimous cease fire to the Sri Lankan Civil War, which had taken place for twenty-six years. Tamil diaspora populations around the world expressed concerns regarding the conduct of the civil war in the island nation of Sri Lanka. The civil war, which took place between the Sri Lankan Army and the separatist group Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam is believed to have killed over 100,000 civilians. Protesters and critics of the Sri Lankan government that triggered a culturally based civil war to be a systematic genocide and ethnic cleansing of the Sri Lankan Tamil minority in Sri Lanka.
Tamil cinema in Sri Lanka is not as developed as Sinhala cinema or its Indian counterpart, the Tamil cinema of Kodambakkam, Chennai, Tamil Nadu. This is especially due to the high production rates of the influential commercial Tamil films from Tamil Nadu, India and the long run ethnic civil war in Sri Lanka. Tamils contributed significantly to Sinhala cinema as well as Indian Tamil cinema, also known as Kollywood. Only a few Tamil language films were produced in the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. Earlier Tamil movies produced were all most destroyed or unrecovered due to civil war.
Deshabandu Pinnaduwage Aravinda de Silva is a former Sri Lankan cricketer and captain, who has also played in English county cricket. De Silva was a key member of the Sri Lankan team that won 1996 Cricket World Cup, where he scored a match winning century in the final, that brought Sri Lanka from underdog status to present-day form. He has held various posts in Sri Lankan Cricket after his retirement in 2003.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar Singh is an Indian international cricketer who is playing for the Indian cricket team. He currently plays for Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League and Uttar Pradesh in domestic cricket. He is considered to be one of the best and most consistent swing bowlers in the world. Kumar swings the ball both ways efficiently, with his inswingers more effective than outswing. Initially starting his career as an opening swing bowler, Bhuvneshwar Kumar upgraded his bowling armoury with reverse swing, slower bowls and Yorkers to become a death over specialist too. With India, Kumar won the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy. He became the first bowler to win a purple cap of IPL in two consecutive seasons.
Weerahandige Inol Avishka Fernando, commonly as Avishka Fernando, is a professional Sri Lankan cricketer, who currently plays limited over internationals for Sri Lanka national team. He plays for Colts Cricket Club in domestic cricket, and he made his international debut for the Sri Lanka cricket team in August 2016. He had his education in St. Sebastian's College, Moratuwa.
Roshan Abeysundara is a Sri Lankan airman and swimmer, who also currently holds the Asian record for swimming across the Palk Strait as of April 2021.
