Sri Lankan cricket played their best cricket during the 1990s, which included a 1996 World Cup win, and the 2000s and early 2010s when their core stream included some of the world-class cricketers in the name of Muttiah Muralitharan, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Chaminda Vaas, and Sanath Jayasuriya.
Especially in ODIs, the team has always been known for the strong characters their players put on during pressure times.
The Island nation was part of the inaugural ODI World Cup in 1975 as an associate nation, and ever since, no Sri Lankan player has scored more centuries than Sanath Jayasuriya scored for the side. The all-rounder has 28 centuries in the format, with a high score of 189 against India.
Jayasuriya and the famous duo of Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene are the only three of the four cricketers in cricketing history to play more than 400 ODI games. You know who is the other one.
This article lists the top ten cricketers with the most centuries for Sri Lanka in ODI.
Most ODI Centuries for Sri Lanka
| PLAYER | 100s | INNINGS | HIGH SCORE | 50s |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sanath Jayasuriya | 28 | 429 | 189 | 68 |
| Kumar Sangakkara | 25 | 373 | 169 | 90 |
| Tillakaratne Dilshan | 22 | 303 | 161* | 47 |
| Mahela Jayawardene | 18 | 413 | 144 | 75 |
| Upul Tharanga | 15 | 222 | 174* | 37 |
| Marvan Atapattu | 11 | 259 | 132* | 59 |
| Aravinda de Silva | 11 | 296 | 145 | 64 |
| Pathum Nissanka | 6 | 62 | 210* | 15 |
| Kusal Perera | 6 | 111 | 135 | 17 |
| Avishka Fernando | 4 | 47 | 127 | 9 |
Key Stats
All 28 centuries of Jayasuriya came while opening the batting for Sri Lanka.
The Sri Lankan opener also has 14 centuries in Tests (13 as opener) and is one of the top ten batters with the most 100s as an opener in international cricket.
If Jayasuriya is the champion opener for the island nation, it is Kumar Sangakkara and Aravinda de Silva who have the most hundreds batting at No.3 and 4, respectively. Find the leading century-scorers in each batting position here.
Jayasuriya is also the only cricketer to pick 300 ODI wickets among any batters who have scored more than 10000 ODI runs.
The fastest century by a Sri Lankan batter in ODI was also hit by Jayasuriya when he smashed a ton in 48 deliveries against Pakistan.
Sangakkara holds the record for scoring four centuries in a single ODI World Cup (only one player scored more than him) when he scored them all in a row during the 2015 edition in Australia. He is also the only cricketer to score 4 ODI hundreds in four straight games.
Jayasuriya and Sangakkara have 7 and 6 centuries against Team India in the 50-overs format, which is the highest for any SL batters against a single opponent.
Interestingly it is Tillakaratne Dilshan, and not Jayasuriya, who has the most centuries in ODI chasing for the side.
Among the Sri Lankan batters, Aravinda de Silva has been dismissed most times in the nervous nineties, i.e., the scores between 90 and 99, in ODI cricket.
