NEW DELHI: Sri Lanka faced their seventh defeat in nine matches during the World Cup, culminating in a disappointing campaign characterised as “inconsistent” by coach Chris Silverwood On Thursday.
The former champions gained entry to the tournament through a qualifying event alongside the Netherlands and displayed moments of brilliance, notably with an impressive eight-wicket victory over defending champions England.

However, their campaign concluded with a five-wicket defeat against New Zealand in Bengaluru, leaving them in ninth place among the 10 teams in the table.

“I think it’s an inconsistency. I think it would be fair to use that word,” Silverwood told reporters.
“There have been certain games during this campaign that if we’d have taken the opportunities that were put our way, this could have looked a lot different.”
Sri Lanka, the champions in 1996, had to alter their leadership in the middle of the tournament when Dasun Shanaka withdrew due to an injury, prompting Kusal Mendis to assume the captaincy.
However, the team encountered challenges exacerbated by a crisis back home. The country’s cricket board (SLC) was dismissed on a Monday, only to be reinstated by the Court of Appeal the following day.
Complicating matters further, Sri Lanka’s parliament unanimously demanded the resignation of SLC, accusing the board of unprecedented corruption involving millions of dollars.
Despite the turmoil within the cricket administration, Coach Silverwood refrained from attributing his team’s decline to political issues, steering clear of blaming politics for the team’s setbacks.
“Well this campaign has been disappointing for us, but if we look at previous campaigns before that I’ve been involved in certainly the win percentage has gone up,” the Englishman said.
“When it comes to what’s happening back home at the moment, being an outsider, the politics of Sri Lanka is not really my business, so I will respectfully decline to go into those areas.”
After win over the Dutch and England, the Mendis-led team lost to Asian neighbours Afghanistan, India and Bangladesh to sink to the bottom half and a 2025 Champions trophy qualification all but gone.
The top seven teams from this World Cup will gain entry into the 2025 tournament along with hosts Pakistan.
“I said earlier, we will have a good debrief, dissect what’s happened and have a look at what we can learn and what we can take into the next phase,” said Silverwood.
“The next chapter leading into the next World Cup and how do we put things right that we got wrong this time.”
(With AFP inputs)