Ever since the retirement of players like Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara, Tillakaratne Dilshan and others Sri Lanka cricket has been on the downhill. There have been talented players in Pathum Nissanka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Matheesha Pathirana and others but the team hasn't been as consistent as they would have liked.
The Sri Lanka team has been perennially in making since the retirement of big players despite beating some big teams on occasion. Some of their big wins are - chasing down 321 against India in Champions Trophy 2017, winning Test series in South Africa in 2018 and Asia Cup in 2022.
What is ailing Sri Lanka cricket?
The main issue with Sri Lanka has been consistency and former SL skipper Aravinda de Silva says that system has to back the talent.
"I think we have always had talent and I don't see any thing of talent being available but I guess it's consistency that is missing. For consistency it involves a lot of things, I think the system also needs to feed and support that (talent) to be sustainable. It is like any other business or an enterprise.
"You need to have the foundation right to make sure that the consistency prevails so I guess that is what I see is lacking. I don't see any lacking of talent. For me the lacking comes from system and also the processes of getting some of these players through," said de Silva on the sidelines of a recent charity match while talking to WION.
Sri Lanka recently lost a Test series at home against Australia. They were beaten 0-2 in the two-Test series at home despite making spin tracks to back their strength.
The 1996 World Cup winners are also not part of the upcoming Champions Trophy 2025 - a huge dark spot on their stature given their rich history in world cricket.