Sri Lanka at World Cups – Lion-hearted performers
Five disappointing campaigns in the World Cup to being with, Sri Lanka shocked the world by lifting the trophy in 1996. After losing out in semifinal of 2003 edition, Sri Lanka featured in two consecutive finals but failed to claim the throne. Their performances at the World Cups are nothing short of a roller-coaster ride.
Team Record:
Played – 73, Won – 35, Lost – 35, Tied – 1, No result – 2
Notable performances:
Champions – 1996
Runner up – 2007, 2011
Semifinals – 2003
Most runs: Kumara Sangakkara (1532 runs in 37 matches)
Most wickets: Muttiah Muralitharan (68 wickets in 40 matches)
History:
Early disappointments
Sri Lanka has participated in every World Cup till date. However, their performance in the first five editions was disappointing to say the least. They failed to go past the group stage in all these tournaments and returned without a single win in two of them (1975 and 1987). In the 1979 World Cup, they defeated India while in 1983 they took down New Zealand once. One strange occurrence for Sri Lanka was in the 1979 World Cup where their match against West Indies was washed out for three consecutive days.
The ultimate glory
In 1996, the World Cup arrived in the subcontinent once again. Under the leadership of Arjuna Ranatunga, the Sri Lankan team kept punching above their weight and played the aggressive brand of cricket. The team was also benefitted by Australia and West Indies giving them a walkover due to security concerns. Sri Lanka defeated other teams in the group and topped with five wins out of five matches.
In the quarterfinal at Faisalabad, Pakistan, Jayasuriya 44-ball 82 blew England away from the competition. In the semifinal versus India at Kolkata, they had a disastrous start of 1/2 but Aravinda de Silva rescued them with a splendid knock of 66 from 47 balls. Their spinners then toppled the Indian batting lineup and the match was awarded to Sri Lanka after the crowd went berserk. Chasing Australia’s 242 in the final at Lahore, Aravinda de Silva (107*) and Ranatunga (47*) fetched the greatest glory for the island nation.
Building towards greatness
The defending champions were knocked out in the group stages of the 1999 World Cup. Sri Lanka came back with a bang and topped their group in the 2003 World Cup. Surprisingly their only loss in the group stages was against Kenya. In this phase, they had blown away Canada for just 36 runs and had reduced Bangladesh to 5/4 with Vaas taking a hat-trick in the opening over. In the semifinal, Sri Lankan batting was wrecked by Brett Lee early and they lost to Australia by 48 runs on D/L calculations.
Consecutive finals
Next two World Cups were special for the Sri Lankan team. They made it to the finals of both the events but fell short by just one step. In 2007, they knocked India out from the group stage and cleared the Super Eight stage at second place. Mahela Jayawardene’s 115 helped them go past New Zealand in the semifinal and they faced Australia in the final. Adam Gilchrist slammed 149 as Australia posted a humongous total. Sri Lanka was in the game till Jayasuriya and Sangakkara were going great guns but Australia prevailed in the end.
Playing in home conditions, Sri Lanka surged ahead at the second place in the group stages of 2011 World Cup. In the quarterfinal, Tillakaratne Dilshan and Upul Tharanga added 231 runs for the first wicket to brush aside England. A five-wicket win against New Zealand in the semifinal propelled them in the final against India at Mumbai. Mahela Jayawardene’s unbeaten 103 proved inadequate as India chased down 274 runs with six wickets in hand.
Sangakkara’s feat
In the 2015 World Cup, Sri Lanka conceded losses to both the hosts but did enough to clear the group stage. In the quarterfinal, South Africa skittled the Asian nation for just 133 runs and cruised ahead. The highlight for Sri Lanka in the World Cup was Kumar Sangakkara’s record-breaking feat of four consecutive hundreds. This is also a record in ODI cricket.
