5 reasons why Sri Lanka has been struggling in ODIs
Sri Lanka used to be one of the giants of limited-overs cricket - the fact that the team made the final of the World Cup in two of its last three editions is a testament to that.
However, over the last few years, Sri Lanka has struggled to compete with the best teams in the world, and this year has seen it reach its nadir, with back-to-back 5-0 ODI losses to India and Pakistan.
Let's take a look at five of the major reasons behind Sri Lanka's struggles in the 50-over format of the game.
#5 Retirement of stalwarts
Any team that loses two of its batting stalwarts in one go is going to struggle when it comes to replacing them. Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara were the team's batting stalwarts for the better part of a decade and a half. However, both retired at the end of the 2015 World Cup and a year later, star opener Tillakaratne Dilshan retired as well.
The hole in the batting line up is immense, and Sri Lanka has failed to find adequate replacements. This lack of quality in the team's batting has had them struggle to score big when batting first and chase down big totals when batting second.