The Sri Lanka national men's cricket team made their debut in international cricket by the name of Ceylon in 1926-27. Organised by the Sri Lanka Cricket board, they are full-member of the ICC, having Test, ODI and T20I status.

Transforming from an associate to full-member, Sri Lanka, known as Ceylon until 1972, played their first ODI versus the West Indies in the 1975 World Cup, the tournament in which they could not win a single match.

In the 1979 ODI World Cup, they beat India, also marking their maiden win in the format.

After earning Test status in 1981, they debuted in the format against England in 1982. Sri Lanka's first Test victory came at the expense of India as they defeated the latter by 149 runs in the second match of the 1985 series that they won by 1-0.

Sri Lanka's success story was initiated in the 90s as the side captained by Arjuna Ranatunga lifted the 1996 ODI World Cup trophy. 

The Island nation were the joint-winners of the 2002 Champions Trophy along with India. 

Since their first T20I in 2006 against England, Sri Lanka claimed their first and only world title in the shortest format after trouncing India by six wickets in the 2014 event.

They are the second-most successful Asian side after India, having won the continent-based tournament - Asia Cup - five times (1986, 1997, 2004, 2008, 2014).

As of August 2022