The Sri Lankan cricket team is a national cricket team representing Sri Lanka. The team first played international cricket in 1975, and were later awarded Test status in 1981, which made Sri Lanka the eighth Test playing nation. The Sri Lankan team transformed themselves from the underdog status to a major cricketing nation during the 1990s. The team went on to take 1996 Cricket World Cup beating Australia in the finals, and becoming the World Champions. Since then, the team continued as a major force in international cricket, with ups and downs in certain periods.
The Sri Lanka team did well to reach the finals of 2007 Cricket World Cup but lost to Australia in a rain affected match to becomes the runners up. The batting of Sanath Jayasuriya and Aravinda de Silva (retired), backed up by the bowling of Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas has largely contributed the success of Sri Lankan cricket during the last 15 years. It is administrated by Sri Lanka Cricket. As of October 2007, the Sri Lankan team has played 170 Test matches, winning 29.41%, losing 37.05% and drawing 33.52% of its games.
