-By A Special Correspondent
(Lanka-e-News -25.Nov.2025, 11.00 PM) By any measure, Sri Lankan cricket has reached a crisis point. Not the cyclical slump of a generation turning over, nor the temporary dip associated with transition — but an unprecedented, system-wide unravelling that has left one of the sport’s most decorated nations suffering humiliating defeats against teams it once dominated.
Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and Afghanistan — countries that, historically, Sri Lanka expected to beat with ease — now routinely outplay and outthink the island’s national side. The trend is unmistakable, the defeats stark, and even seasoned observers of the game are running out of euphemisms.
The former Pakistan captain and commentator Ramiz Raja put it bluntly: Sri Lankan cricket is no longer operating at an international standard.
His verdict is harsh — but the data paints a picture even harsher than the punditry.
This article examines why Sri Lanka has fallen so abruptly and why, according to critics and analysts, the worst may still lie ahead. Using the very statistics of the players who now represent the national team, the truth reveals itself: Sri Lanka does not have world-class batsmen by modern international standards — not in ODIs, not in T20Is, and worryingly, not even in its next generation of domestic cricketers.
In the modern game, the benchmarks for top-tier batting are well established.
In One-Day Internationals (ODIs), the contemporary global standard for a “strong” batsman is:
Average above 40
Strike rate above 90
In T20 Internationals (T20Is), with batting power at an all-time high, the standard has shifted even further:
Average around 30
Strike rate above 130
These figures are not elite; they are the minimum thresholds for competitive international cricket — the baseline against which teams like India, Australia, England, and South Africa measure their players.
Now consider the current Sri Lankan lineup.
ODI and T20I Batting Averages and Strike Rates
|
Player |
ODI Ave |
ODI SR |
T20I Ave |
T20I SR |
|
Dasun Shanaka |
22.39 |
91.47 |
20.45 |
123.8 |
|
Charith Asalanka |
42.88 |
90.90 |
22.61 |
126.3 |
|
Kusal Mendis |
34.93 |
87.65 |
25.07 |
130.5 |
|
Pathum Nissanka |
40.91 |
89.02 |
30.94 |
125.5 |
|
Kamil Mishara |
31.33 |
89.52 |
25.50 |
123.6 |
|
Kusal Perera |
30.53 |
92.88 |
27.11 |
133.5 |
|
Janith Liyanage |
45.50 |
85.93 |
23.66 |
83.5 |
|
Sadeera Samarawickrama |
32.35 |
90.60 |
19.32 |
109.9 |
|
Avishka Fernando |
31.78 |
88.91 |
11.05 |
92.1 |
|
Kamindu Mendis |
26.35 |
80.70 |
19.28 |
124.7 |
|
Nishan Madushka |
26.00 |
80.88 |
25.76 |
114.0 |
Only two players even approach modern ODI batting metrics:
Charith Asalanka (42.88, SR 90.90)
Pathum Nissanka (40.91, SR 89.02)
Even here, their strike rates — essential in a world dominated by aggressive batting and power hitting — fall short of global norms. A modern No. 3 or No. 4 in Australia or England strikes at 95–105, not 88–90.
Further down the list, Sri Lanka’s middle order and lower-middle order bat at 1980s speeds in a 2025 game.
T20Is reveal an even deeper problem. Not a single Sri Lankan batsman meets the global baseline of:
Average 30+ with SR 130+
Not one.
Nissanka comes closest (30.94 & 125.5), but even he falls short of the strike rate modern T20 cricket demands. Others — including key players like Shanaka, Sadeera, Avishka, and Kamindu — operate at strike rates common in domestic cricket a decade ago.
Some strike rates — particularly Avishka Fernando’s 92.1 and Janith Liyanage’s 83.5 — would struggle even in a weak domestic league.
The numbers confirm what fans feel in real time during matches: Sri Lanka’s batsmen are simply unable to compete.
If the national team’s metrics are concerning, the domestic scene is alarming.
Below is the performance of leading List A and T20 domestic batsmen — the players expected to replace or challenge the underperforming internationals:
List A and Domestic T20 Batting Statistics
|
Player |
List A Ave |
SR |
T20 Ave |
SR |
|
Lasith Croospulle |
24.38 |
98.32 |
20.60 |
134.1 |
|
Ashan Wickramasinghe |
29.44 |
83.43 |
26.22 |
118.8 |
|
Vishen Halambage |
19.60 |
128.9 |
25.54 |
161.3 |
|
Nuwanidu Fernando |
32.41 |
86.99 |
26.64 |
123.6 |
|
Sahan Arachchige |
31.86 |
71.81 |
24.70 |
119.8 |
|
Pavan Rathnayake |
44.59 |
92.43 |
12.25 |
101.2 |
|
Lahiru Udara |
31.53 |
85.98 |
20.14 |
131.7 |
|
P. Sooriyabandara |
31.50 |
79.14 |
33.41 |
113.5 |
|
Sonal Dinusha |
39.81 |
79.66 |
20.45 |
123.8 |
Here is the verdict:
In List A cricket, almost no player has both a strong average and strong strike rate.
In T20 domestic cricket, SRs are below elite T20 standards, and averages are low.
Across formats, the basics of power hitting, rotation of strike, and sustained scoring rates are missing.
Domestic cricket, historically Sri Lanka’s production line of greats, is no longer feeding the national team with international-grade players. The conveyor belt is broken.
The recent Youth Asian Cup, a tournament traditionally dominated by Sri Lanka’s junior cricketers, offers little hope.
Sri Lanka:
Lost to Afghanistan
Barely scraped past Bangladesh
Lost again to Pakistan
This is not a blip — it is an indictment of the entire talent development system. Afghanistan, who barely had cricketing infrastructure twenty years ago, now outclass Sri Lanka at both youth and senior levels.
The problem is structural, not accidental.
Every name listed above — every current player, every replacement candidate — comes from:
Colombo
Kalutara
Galle
Gampaha
Four districts.
Sri Lanka has 25 districts. In most of them, cricket is played in schools with passion, tradition, and talent. Yet players from these regions rarely progress beyond school level because:
To advance, a player must move to a club in Colombo or nearby districts.
Not because of merit — but because of votes, politics, and club power in cricket elections.
This is not a pathway; it is a blockade.
What does it mean?
It means Sri Lanka is drawing talent from only 15% of its geography.
It means 85% of the island’s potential cricketers cannot access the system that leads to the national team.
The outcome is exactly what one would expect: stagnation, repetition, and a rapidly shrinking talent pool.
Muttiah Muralitharan, a man who rarely exaggerates, warned years ago that Sri Lanka’s cricketing structure had become so politicised and so dysfunctional that it might reach a point beyond recovery.
Many dismissed it as pessimism.
Today, it reads like prophecy.
Youth cricket is declining.
Domestic cricket is unimpressive.
National-level batting metrics are well below global averages.
Selection pools are geographically restricted.
Club politics override performance.
Infrastructure is outdated.
Coaching pathways are non-functional.
Power hitting, fitness, and modern scoring techniques have fallen behind the world.
Sri Lanka is not missing world-class players — it is missing the system that creates world-class players.
This is the most striking conclusion of all:
Sri Lanka does not have world-class players today.
Sri Lanka will not have them tomorrow.
Sri Lanka cannot produce them with the current system.
Unless — by luck, accident, or anomaly — a once-in-a-generation player emerges from nowhere.
But one player alone cannot rebuild a broken cricketing nation.
The world of cricket has moved into an era of:
Explosive power hitting
Data-driven training
Hyper-professional athletic standards
Franchise-driven skill evolution
Deep national talent systems
Sri Lanka is operating in a bygone era where averages of 30 and strike rates of 85 were enough to survive.
The modern game is ruthless — and Sri Lanka is playing with obsolete tools.
For Sri Lankan cricket supporters, this may be the hardest truth of all.
If you watch matches expecting victories, trophies, and dominance, you will be disappointed — repeatedly.
But if you watch with expectation of fight, resilience, and the hope that one day the system can reset itself, perhaps the game will still bring joy.
Sri Lanka once stunned the world with its brilliance. It can still surprise the world again — but only if it accepts that the current crisis is not temporary, not random, and not reversible by cosmetic changes.
The numbers tell the truth.
The structure explains the truth.
And the reality is unavoidable:
Sri Lankan cricket is no longer world class.
And unless the system is rebuilt from the ground up, it may never be again.
-By A Special Correspondent
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by (2025-11-25 18:22:34)
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