Power Ranking the 2019 World Cup Teams

8. Sri Lanka

Pakistan v Sri Lanka - ODI

Since the retirements of Mahela Jayawerdene and Kumar Sangakkara after the 2015 World Cup, Sri Lanka’s ODI team has really fallen off the cliff. In fact since that tournament, Sri Lanka have won only two bilateral ODI series (while losing seven), one of which was against Ireland (along with two tri-series). Their only real impressive victory was a tri-series against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh, where a Shakib Al Hasan injury in the final gave them a surprising win.

Moreover, their team has been in constant flux and it is clear that the team management does not know what their best XI is. In fact they have used 49 players since the 2015 tournament in ODIs. For comparison, England and Bangladesh have only used 29 since that tournament. There are only six or seven players who are guaranteed to be in the final squad for 2018.

Their batting lineup is rather reliant on three players: Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chanidmal and Upul Tharanga. Mathews is a brilliant batsman but very injury-prone, having suffered a variety of ailments over the past two years. Meanwhile, Chandimal has been mired in a ball-tampering scandal thus robbing him of valuable match experience before the tournament. Finally, Tharanga’s technique is not ideal for English conditions considering his tendency to poke outside the off-stump.

Meanwhile Sri Lanka’s bowling attack has been fodder for opposing batsmen, especially a certain Indian opener who has scored two double-centuries against the team (no prizes for guessing). Nonetheless, Sri Lanka are propelled above West Indies because of their batting talent and the fact that they beat the Windies in a 2017 tri-series.