Winning in England impossible for Sri Lanka? Aravinda de Silva drops colossal statement as he slams SL cricketers

Former Sri Lanka National Cricket Team captain Aravinda de Silva has expressed his disappointment at the current state of Sri Lanka Cricket, saying that they have lost their identity and the international teams no longer aspire to play like them.

The Sri Lanka National Cricket Team have not been at their best in the last few years and they have badly struggled to perform against the top teams as well as in the ICC events. There has been a lot of chaos in Sri Lanka Cricket both on and off the field, which has seen the change in leadership roles multiple times in a short span of time.

The Sri Lankan team, however, recently gave joy to their fans by delivering an exceptional performance in the three-match home ODI series against the full-strength India National Cricket Team.

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After facing an embarrassing defeat in the T20I series against the Men In Blue, the Lankan Lions roared back and demolished Rohit Sharma & Co. in the ODI series to register a 2-0 win. It was the first time that Sri Lanka defeated the Indian team in an ODI series since 1997.

The next challenge for the Islanders is a tough one as they are set to play an away Test series against the Ben Stokes-less England National Cricket Team. Notably, Stokes has been ruled out of the series with injury and Ollie Pope has been handed the leadership duties.

Speaking ahead of the Test series, Aravinda de Silva spoke about the current crop of Sri Lankan players and highlighted that they lack bravery, which wasn't the case earlier.

That was Sri Lanka playing like no other side has done in history - Aravinda de Silva

In an interaction with inews.co.uk, the 58-year-old stated that earlier, the Lankan cricketers were so good that the other teams tried to emulate their style of cricket, but this is no longer the case.

"That was Sri Lanka playing like no other side has done in history," De Silva said.

"We had an identity, people knew the way that Sri Lankan cricketers played the game and teams wanted to emulate that. I don’t think we have that at the moment."

De Silva, meanwhile, was extremely delighted to see the 'bazball' approach of the England National Cricket Team and said that he enjoys seeing the Englishmen play. He also stated that beating the Three Lions in their own backyard would be hard, but it's not impossible.

"I’m enjoying the way that England are playing their cricket at the moment. They’re playing very, very attacking cricket – whether they’re bowling or batting, England are taking a really positive approach and it’s paying off. Winning in England is hard. But it’s certainly not impossible," he added.

Meanwhile, the first Test of the upcoming ENG vs SL series will be played from Wednesday, August 21, in Manchester and the second Test is scheduled to be hosted by Lord's from Thursday, August 29.

The third and final Test is set to be played from Friday, September 6, at The Oval. The Lankan Lions have just won one Test series in England, which was way back in 2014, and they would be looking to create history this time around.