Zimbabwe ODI series a challenging experience for Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka won last ODI series played against Zimbabwe 2-0 at home in 2024

• Not won a bilateral ODI series overseas for 11 years
• Last win was in 2014 in England 3-2

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

The upcoming series in Zimbabwe will test the resilience of the Sri Lanka One-Day International (ODI) team who don’t have a healthy record outside the country.

Sri Lanka find themselves currently ranked 4th in the ICC ODI team rankings largely due to winning 7 of their last 9 ODI series at home since the 2023 Cricket World Cup. The two defeats have come in away series in Bangladesh (2-1) in 2024 and in New Zealand (2-1) in 2025.

Sri Lanka have a rather mediocre record in bilateral ODI series overseas. They have not won a series since 2014 in England barring of course wins in Ireland in 2016 and Scotland in 2019. Under the captaincy of Angelo Mathews Sri Lanka beat England 3-2 and that victory seems far away and virtually forgotten because it was achieved more than a decade ago.

Although ranked as low as 11th out of 20, Zimbabwe on their home turf could be a handful. They approach the series against Sri Lanka on the back of a 2-1 win against Ireland, while Sri Lanka go into the series having achieved a similar win against Bangladesh.

Zimbabwe has not hosted a Sri Lanka team for an ODI bilateral series since 2008 when they were whitewashed 5-0. Sri Lanka has not lost an ODI series in Zimbabwe since making their first tour there in 1994.

Although the main focus of the Zimbabwe tour will be the three-match T20I series starting on 3 September as the national selectors will be looking to fill in a few glitches in the batting line-up ahead of next year’s T20 World Cup, the ODI series nevertheless is also important although the next Cricket World Cup is still two years away. Sri Lanka have less headaches in their batting line-up in ODIs than in T20Is where it is still not yet a settled side.

With the inclusion of young players Nuwanidu Fernando and Pavan Rathnayake, there is going to be competition for batting positions especially for players like Kamindu Mendis, Sadeera Samarawickrama and Nishan Madushka. Samarawickrama although named in the ODI squad for the series against Bangladesh failed to get a game, while Madushka had a poor run with the bat scoring 24 runs in 3 innings and Kamindu also an ordinary run – 49 runs in 3 innings, although he could prove useful with his ambidextrous spin.

A lot of focus will be on fast bowler Dushmantha Chameera, a winner on his day but plagued by injuries throughout his career. He was recalled to the side for the series against Bangladesh and played in the last two matches. The Zimbabwe tour will be a testing ground on his fitness to last throughout a series.

Asitha Fernando will spearhead the bowling with support from Chameera, Dilshan Madushanka and fast bowling all-rounder Milan Rathnayake. Madushanka, like Samarawickrama, received a call up to the national side for the ODI series against Bangladesh after November 2024, but did not play a single match. He made a mark for himself in the 2023 Cricket World Cup with 21 wickets from 9 matches, but has failed to hold his place in the team since then due to inconsistent performance. The spin department in the absence of key spinner Wanindu Hasaranga will be heavily dependent on Maheesh Theekshana and Jeffrey Vandersay with Dunith Wellalage, skipper Charith Asalanka and Kamindu Mendis to fill in the overs. The team left for Harare last night.