Major honours
A late arrival — earning Test status in 1981 and playing its first Test against England in Colombo in 1982 — but the team that changed limited-overs tactics more than any other. At the 1996 World Cup, Sanath Jayasuriya and Romesh Kaluwitharana pioneered attacking the new ball from the very start of the powerplay, a tactic that beat Australia in the Lahore final and was copied worldwide soon after. In the same era, Muttiah Muralitharan built an unmatched career total of 800 Test wickets and 534 ODI wickets, while Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene set a Test-record partnership of 624 against South Africa in Colombo in 2006. Sri Lanka's declared total of 952 for 6 against India in 1997 remains the highest Test innings total ever recorded. After winning the T20 World Cup against India in Dhaka in 2014, the retirement of that golden generation and administrative turmoil caused results to swing wildly, but on spin-friendly home pitches in Galle and Colombo, Sri Lanka remains a threat to any team.
Record comparison
Bars are scaled to the strongest team in this list.
Club legends
Rivalry
Sri Lanka and India have played more ODIs against each other than almost any other pairing and have met repeatedly in Asia Cup finals. Matches against neighboring Bangladesh and Pakistan also draw fierce regional interest.