- Can Lanka change the T20I narrative?
Sri Lanka and England are set to play a full T20I series consisting of three matches for the first time in this country when both teams go head to head from 30 January to 3 February at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium.
To date, Sri Lanka have played five one-off T20Is against England in 2006, 2011, 2014, and 2016, losing the latter three games in England. The only fixture played here in the 2018–’19 season was also won by the tourists, then captained by Eoin Morgan.
In fact, Sri Lanka’s only success thus far in this format was in their inaugural fixture played 20 years ago, when Mahela Jayawardena’s men edged their hosts by two runs at Southampton in a low-scoring affair, with current Head Coach Sanath Jayasuriya claiming Player-of-the-Match honours for a 30-ball 41.
Hence, England currently have a 4-1 record against Sri Lanka in bilateral series between the two nations in the sport’s shortest format. The series coming up shortly will place additional pressure on the underperforming home team to change that narrative.
England, led by white-ball Captain Harry Brook, who are currently placed at number three in the International Cricket Council (ICC) T20I Rankings, will be favourites to continue their stranglehold of eighth-ranked Sri Lanka in this format.
Right-handed batter Brook, 26, was confirmed as England’s new leader across both T20I and One-Day International (ODI) formats in April after Jos Buttler’s decision to step down following their ouster from the ICC Men’s Champions Trophy early last year.
England’s last T20I series defeat away from home was when they lost a five-match series 4-1 to Suryakumar Yadav’s India in the 2024–’25 season, while their last success was over New Zealand when they won a rain-hindered three-match series in New Zealand 1-0 in October 2025.
With both teams looking to finalise their preparation for the ICC Men’s T20I World Cup commencing in early February in the Indian subcontinent, it will be interesting to see how both camps fare in the upcoming series.
Before both teams meet in the T20I series, they are set to kick off the white-ball engagements with a three-match ODI series from 22 to 27 January at the R. Premadasa International Cricket Stadium (RPICS) in Colombo.
The forthcoming ODI series will also be the first such series on Lankan soil since the 2018–’19 season, when Morgan’s men clinched a five-match series 3-1 with one of the matches being rained off.
Although the hosts lost that series under Dinesh Chandimal, the final rain-curtailed one-dayer played at the RPICS proved to be a memorable one for the home side, who prevailed by a whopping 219 runs under the DLS method for a morale-boosting victory.
It was also England’s heaviest loss in terms of runs in their ODI history, but for Lanka’s last ODI series triumph on home soil against the visitors, they will need to go as far back as the 2014–’15 season, when they clinched a rare seven-match series 5-2.
The hosts savoured that success under now-retired skipper Angelo Mathews, while their opponents were led by left-handed opening batter Sir Alastair Cook.
Meanwhile, England will strive hard to arrest their declining fortunes in the 50-over version with their last success away from home being a 2-1 series triumph over Bangladesh in the 2022–’23 season under Buttler.
Currently, Sri Lanka are ranked ahead of England with the former occupying the fifth position compared to the latter’s eighth position in the ICC ODI Rankings.
Therefore, the ODI series which is around the corner will present both teams an opportunity to test their combinations and strengths, some 22 months out from the format’s marquee event to be held in South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Namibia.
England are due to arrive in Colombo tomorrow (19).