Sri Lanka’s predictable exit from yet another World Cup has led to another cyclic episode of outrage that has brought all of Sri Lanka’s pet peeves back into the conversation. In this article, I argue that Sri Lanka’s continued poor performance in T20Is has more to do with their old-school batting than with any of the popular reasons.
To begin with, the only unexpected outcome from Sri Lanka’s World Cup campaign was their victory over Australia, which was due to the poor form of Australian batters and their injury-ravaged bowling unit. Before the World Cup, Sri Lanka had lost to Zimbabwe 3 times since 2024, lost 0-3 to England at home, failed to beat New Zealand in a series at home, lost 1-2 in New Zealand, and lost 4 of their last 6 games against Pakistan.
Some of the criticisms following this predictable performance, such as corruption within the board, poor domestic structure, and selection inconsistencies, are valid, while others are unsubstantiated accusations of poor fitness, indiscipline, lack of commitment, and too much involvement in franchise cricket. However, a reason that has received little attention is Sri Lanka’s old-school approach to T20I batting, stemming from their island mentality.
Island mentality is an isolated community with limited exposure to the outside world, perceiving themselves as superior, while being hostile to new ideas emerging from outside. We, Sri Lankans, prefer homespun solutions and rest on the laurels of past glory. We reject ‘external’ ideas despite evidence of success and persist with our ‘own’ despite evidence of repeated failures, stagnating and failing to evolve with changing times. This informs our society in many ways, from religious fanaticism and social conservatism to far-leftism and anti-globalisation sentiments. Cricket on the island is not immune either.
T20 cricket has evolved at a rapid pace over the last decade, with greater emphasis now being placed on six-hitting. As shown in Fig. 1, the strike rate of the 12 full-member teams excluding Sri Lanka has increased over the years, especially since 2014. The biggest contributor to this has been six-hitting, with runs scored off sixes per 100 balls (six rate) showing the strongest correlation of 0.91 with the strike rate, followed by runs scored off fours per 100 balls (four rate), which show a correlation of 0.70. In contrast, runs from running per 100 balls (running rate) have remained almost constant and show the weakest correlation of 0.11.
However, while the rest of the world has evolved, Sri Lanka have not. Sri Lanka’s strike rate has consistently been below the global strike rate since 2014, as shown in Fig. 2, save for the occasional spikes in 2015 and 2018, thanks to the fewer games they played in those years. Their strike rate is 10.86 less than the rest of the world since 2016 and 8.04 less since 2024. This is mainly due to Sri Lanka lagging behind the world in six-hitting, with the difference in the six rate since 2016 being 9.36, which has risen to 11.93 since 2024. In contrast, the difference in the four rate is only 2.65 since 2016, while Sri Lanka lead the globe by 1.3 since 2024. Sri Lanka have run better than the rest of the world as they lead by 1.15 since 2016 and 2.59 since 2024.
How did Sri Lanka miss this six-hitting revolution in T20Is? Enter the island mentality. Sri Lanka believe they are better off on their own and are hostile to the idea of franchise cricket, defying the wave of globalisation that has swept through cricket. Sri Lanka have denied No-Objection Certificates (NOCs) to several prominent cricketers over the years, and have made a habit of abruptly withdrawing players, like they recently did with Pathum Nissanka while he was in red-hot form in the ILT20. Many of Sri Lanka’s coaches also do not work with international teams and franchises, and the few who do do not want to work with Sri Lanka Cricket for obvious reasons. This means Sri Lanka have effectively isolated themselves from the global knowledge pool, making their ideas become stagnant and eventually obsolete.
The island mentality that made them miss the revolution also holds them back from realising it, even a decade after it began. The local selectors and coaches have little to no exposure to T20s, and the very few who do do not have the cognitive intelligence to understand that the batting approach has changed. The dogmatic view about batting also holds back Sri Lanka from progressing forward, as exemplified by Marvan Atapattu, Sri Lanka’s head coach between 2014 and 2015, claiming in 2019 that, “No point in someone able to hit five sixes but if he can’t bat for five overs”, and Romesh Kaluwitharana, a selector from 2021 to 2023, saying in 2020 that, “Even in T20 you don’t need to be a power-hitter . . . Placing the ball into gaps and playing intelligent cricket is as effective”. This old-school view is also common among fans and journalists who associate six-hitters with low IQ and put accumulators on a pedestal. Past glory, such as winning the T20 World Cup in 2014 and progressing to the final in 2009 and 2012, has also convinced Sri Lanka that what worked for them then would work forever. The irony is that it was Thisara Perera’s 2 sixes against Amit Mishra that swung the final in 2014 decisively in their favour when it was drifting into a territory similar to the previous finals.
The impact of this island mentality is conspicuous across Sri Lanka’s cricket culture. First, this makes them averse to high-risk, high-reward cricket, which inhibits six-hitting. Even though the world has embraced it and adopted new techniques and training methods, mitigating risk, Sri Lanka’s self-isolation has rendered them oblivious to these new developments, forcing them to take low-risk options. Recently, after Rajasthan Royals’ Director of High-Performance Zubin Bharucha conducted a batting workshop for Sri Lankan batters, the head coach of Sri Lanka, Sanath Jayasuriya, told the media that, “Some of the things that he did with our batters we had never done before”, underlining Sri Lanka’s obsolete coaching methods.
This aversion means that we see Sri Lanka continue to prefer accumulators over hitters in T20Is. Pathum Nissanka, who has gone from striking at 112.15 before 2024 to 143.65 since 2024, was brought into T20Is in 2021 to provide stability at the top based on his red-ball skills. In recent times, Sri Lanka have brought Janith Liyanage and Pavan Rathnayake, whose T20 strike rates were 111.76 and 101.23, into the side, and used Kamindu Mendis, who strikes at 130.72 in T20s, as a finisher, while overlooking hitters such as Vishen Halambage, Lasith Croospulle, Movin Subasingha, Lahiru Samarakoon, Ashan Randika and Chamindu Wickramasinghe.
Second, our domestic system does not prioritise T20s with promotion and relegation based on first-class cricket. I would also not be surprised if clubs lack the financial incentive to take T20s seriously. Further compounding this are the slow pitches and big boundaries in Sri Lanka that discourage six-hitting. The combined effect is that the strike rate in the last 5 years in domestic T20s in Sri Lanka, barring LPL, is 107.85, while it is 124.12 across the globe. It takes 28.02 balls to hit a six in Sri Lankan domestic T20s, whereas a six is hit every 20.21 balls across the globe. LPL, with its frequent change in team ownership, coaching setup and team combination, has also failed to lend gravitas to T20s.
Third, Sri Lanka have lost an entire generation to old-school batting, and the upcoming generations do not have hitters to look up to. Add to this the step-motherly treatment T20s get at the domestic level, young Sri Lankan batters grow up on a heavy diet of red-ball cricket, with little to no T20 skills, all the while, other countries thrive on T20 natives.
There is no immediate fix for Sri Lanka’s T20I woes. Even if Sri Lanka pick the few sub-par hitters at their disposal, they are going to struggle initially, putting the team at risk of folding for low scores, inviting public and media witch-hunt, which is only going to encourage Sri Lanka to fall back on accumulators to lose with dignity. Sri Lanka’s outdated coaches and analysts are also incapable of helping hitters, while the shortage of express pacers, wrist spinners and fast spinners at the domestic level renders hitters incapable of hitting these bowling types at the international level. The rank turners Sri Lanka have been preparing at home, which have come under criticism from visiting coaches and captains, in consort with the massive size of the Sri Lankan grounds, also make life harder for hitters. Consequently, the solution has to be a long-term project that overhauls the cricket culture from the grassroots by embracing globalisation, modernising coaching and incentivising T20s.
The only reason why Sri Lanka had limited success in cricket in the past was that cricket was a less popular sport that had remained constant until a decade ago. With cricket evolving rapidly and becoming globalised, Sri Lanka’s decline is expected. Given how Sri Lanka swear by tested and failed policies even after many ethnic conflicts, civil wars and economic crises, there is little hope cricket will be any different. The island does not seem to know a way out of their island mentality.
