Best Sri Lankan Batsmen In Tests Featured

Top 10 Sri Lankan Batsmen In Tests Since 1950

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All Test Ratings on the website are from 01/01/1950 onwards (Know Why). They are updated till 2026-02-05. Brief explanation of the ratings is given before each section (Detailed Explanation) and in the last section. Here are the Top 10 Sri Lankan batsmen in Test Cricket since 1950.

CONTENTS
1. THE CRITERIA
2. QUALIFICATION
3. PRIMARY CRITERIA
3.1. PROLIFIC
3.2. CONSISTENT
3.2.1. Against All Teams
3.2.2. Against Top Teams
3.3. ATTACKING
3.3.1. Against All Teams
3.3.2. Against Top Teams
3.4. BIG INNINGS POTENTIAL
3.4.1. Against All Teams
3.4.2. Against Top Teams
3.5. PRIMARY RATING
4. CONDITIONS CRITERIA
4.1. HOME/AWAY
4.1.1. At Home
4.1.2. Away From Home
4.2. FAMILIAR/UNFAMILIAR CONDITIONS
4.2.1. Familiar Conditions Rating
4.2.1.1. Asians In Asia
4.2.2. Unfamiliar Conditions Rating
4.2.2.1. Asians Outside Asia
4.3. CONDITIONS RATING
5. SECONDARY CRITERIA
5.1. LOW SCORING INNS
5.2. TOP FORM
5.3. IMPACT INNS
5.4. SECONDARY RATING
6. OVERALL RATING
6.1. BRIEF EXPLANATION
6.1.1. Dynamic Nature
6.1.2. Trend Setter (TS)
6.1.3. Top Teams (TT)
6.1.4. Abbreviations
Nations Filter

This rating filters the OVERALL Rating to show players only from Sri Lanka.

  • The Rating of the players from Sri Lanka remains the same as in the original OVERALL Rating.
  • Thus the Trend Setter can be from any nation and is not necessarily from Sri Lanka.

THE CRITERIA

CRITERIA CONSTITUENTS
Primary Runs, Average, Strike Rate, Top Inns
Conditions Home, Away, In Asia, Outside Asia
Secondary Top Form, Low Scoring Inns, Impact Inns

QUALIFICATION

Min Innings (TT) 30
Min Career Runs 1000

PRIMARY CRITERIA

The Primary Rating is divided into 4 main sections:-

CRITERIA STAT POINTS
Prolific Runs Scored 250.00
Consistent Average 400.00
Attacking Strike Rate 100.00
Big Innings Potential Top Inns (Runs) 250.00

PROLIFIC

The Eras

The time period from 1950 to present is divided into eras for this section. This is because less cricket was played earlier. To make it fair for earlier players they are compared with players of the same period with a slight reduction in points. Know More About Eras.

Era 1 MP before 1976
Era 2 MP between 1975 And 1996
Era 3 MP between 1995 And 2016
Era 4 MP greater than 2015

Criteria: Points For Runs Scored

RANK ERA 1 NAT FP LP MP INNS RUNS RAT
TS G Boycott ENG 1964 1982 1973 193 8114 230.00
RANK ERA 2 NAT FP LP MP INNS RUNS RAT
TS AR Border AUS 1978 1994 1986 265 11174 240.00
1 PA de Silva SL 1984 2002 1993 159 6361 136.62
RANK ERA 3 NAT FP LP MP INNS RUNS RAT
TS SR Tendulkar IND 1989 2013 2001 329 15921 250.00
1 KC Sangakkara SL 2000 2015 2007.5 233 12400 194.71
2 DPMD Jayawardena SL 1997 2014 2005.5 252 11814 185.51
3 ST Jayasuriya SL 1991 2007 1999 188 6973 109.49
4 MS Atapattu SL 1990 2007 1998.5 156 5502 86.40
5 TM Dilshan SL 1999 2013 2006 145 5492 86.24
6 TT Samaraweera SL 2001 2013 2007 132 5462 85.77
RANK ERA 4 NAT FP LP MP INNS RUNS RAT
TS JE Root ENG 2012 2026 2019 298 13943 240.00
1 AD Mathews SL 2009 2025 2017 212 8214 141.39
2 FDM Karunaratne SL 2012 2025 2018.5 191 7222 124.31
3 LD Chandimal SL 2011 2025 2018 161 6361 109.49

CONSISTENT

R Ave

Relative Average (R Ave) is a more accurate type of average. Know How It Is Calculated. Briefly, it takes into account:-

  • Strength of Opposition.
  • Positions at which a batsman has played.
  • Venues at which he has played.
  • Time Period in which he has been active

Criteria: Points For Relative Average

Min Qualification For TS
Min Runs 2000
Min Runs (TT) 1600

Against All Teams

RANK BATSMAN INNS NO RUNS AVE R AVE RAT
TS GS Sobers 160 21 8032 57.78 62.64 160.00
1 KC Sangakkara 233 17 12400 57.41 54.95 140.37
2 DPMD Jayawardena 252 15 11814 49.85 47.90 122.35
3 TT Samaraweera 132 20 5462 48.77 46.84 119.65
4 AD Mathews 212 27 8214 44.40 44.61 113.94
5 PA de Silva 159 11 6361 42.98 44.39 113.39
6 LD Chandimal 161 15 6361 43.57 44.16 112.79
7 ST Jayasuriya 188 14 6973 40.07 41.02 104.77
8 FDM Karunaratne 191 7 7222 39.25 40.51 103.48
9 MS Atapattu 156 15 5502 39.02 40.48 103.40
10 TM Dilshan 145 11 5492 40.99 40.00 102.17

Against Top Teams

RANK BATSMAN INNS NO RUNS AVE R AVE RAT
TS GS Sobers 124 16 6474 59.94 66.47 240.00
1 KC Sangakkara 160 7 7980 52.16 52.63 190.02
2 PA de Silva 105 7 4392 44.82 48.66 175.69
3 DPMD Jayawardena 176 5 8186 47.87 48.37 174.64
4 TT Samaraweera 89 14 3349 44.65 45.32 163.63
5 AD Mathews 158 17 5911 41.92 43.78 158.08
6 ST Jayasuriya 125 8 4731 40.44 43.71 157.81
7 LD Chandimal 116 5 4341 39.11 41.52 149.93
8 TM Dilshan 103 7 3516 36.63 37.89 136.82
9 MS Atapattu 106 7 3419 34.54 37.76 136.33
10 FDM Karunaratne 133 3 4194 32.26 35.35 127.62

ATTACKING

R SR

Relative Strike Rate (R SR) is calculated using the same method as R Ave with average being replaced with SR. Batsman who were active in earlier times benefit from this as SR was generally low earlier.

R4BF

Balls played by batsmen for many inns is not available for earlier times. When such is the case, we have used Runs For Balls Faced (R4BF) to determine the Strike Rate. This is the runs scored by the batsman for the available data of balls.

Criteria: Points For R SR

Min Qualification For TS
Min Runs 2000
Min Runs (TT) 1600
Min Average 25

Against All Teams

RANK BATSMAN R4BF BF SR R SR RAT
TS N Kapil Dev 4481 5580 80.30 90.81 40.00
1 ST Jayasuriya 6973 10689 65.24 69.03 30.40
2 TM Dilshan 5492 8381 65.53 64.40 28.37
3 PA de Silva 5742 11266 50.97 55.49 24.44
4 KC Sangakkara 12400 22882 54.19 53.75 23.67
5 DPMD Jayawardena 11814 22956 51.46 51.36 22.62
6 FDM Karunaratne 7222 14024 51.50 49.76 21.92
7 LD Chandimal 6361 12703 50.07 47.66 20.99
8 MS Atapattu 5502 12384 44.43 46.99 20.70
9 AD Mathews 8214 16970 48.40 46.26 20.38
10 TT Samaraweera 5462 11642 46.92 46.15 20.33

Against Top Teams

RANK BATSMAN R4BF BF SR R SR RAT
TS N Kapil Dev 3559 4345 81.91 93.76 60.00
1 ST Jayasuriya 4731 7426 63.71 68.54 43.86
2 TM Dilshan 3516 5702 61.66 61.39 39.29
3 PA de Silva 3982 7902 50.39 55.55 35.55
4 KC Sangakkara 7980 15354 51.97 52.26 33.44
5 DPMD Jayawardena 8186 16308 50.20 50.66 32.42
6 FDM Karunaratne 4194 8313 50.45 49.27 31.53
7 LD Chandimal 4341 8693 49.94 47.98 30.71
8 AD Mathews 5911 12254 48.24 46.52 29.77
9 TT Samaraweera 3349 7456 44.92 44.64 28.57
10 MS Atapattu 3419 8413 40.64 43.68 27.95

BIG INNINGS POTENTIAL

Ave HS

In this criteria, we have taken the top 7 scores of the batsman. Average High Score (Ave HS) is simply the total runs in the 7 innings divided by 7.

Criteria: Points For Runs Scored In The Top 7 Inns

Against All Teams

RANK BATSMAN 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 AVE HS RAT
TS BC Lara 400* 375 277 226 221 216 213 275.43 80.00
1 DPMD Jayawardena 374 275 242 240 237 213* 203* 254.86 74.02
2 KC Sangakkara 319 287 270 232 230 222* 221 254.43 73.90
3 ST Jayasuriya 340 253 213 199 188 157 148 214.00 62.16
4 MS Atapattu 249 223 216* 207* 201* 201 185 211.71 61.49
5 FDM Karunaratne 244 196 186 179 158* 152 147 180.29 52.37
6 PA de Silva 267 206 168 167 152 148 146 179.14 52.03
7 TT Samaraweera 231 214 159 143 142 138 137* 166.29 48.30
8 AD Mathews 200* 199 160 157* 145* 141 122 160.57 46.64
9 TM Dilshan 193 168 163* 162 147 145 143 160.14 46.51
10 LD Chandimal 206* 164 162* 155* 151 138 132 158.29 45.98

Against Top Teams

RANK BATSMAN 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 AVE HS RAT
TS DPMD Jayawardena 374 275 242 240 237 213* 195 253.71 170.00
1 DPMD Jayawardena 374 275 242 240 237 213* 195 253.71 170.00
2 KC Sangakkara 287 232 221 219 211 203 199* 224.57 150.47
3 ST Jayasuriya 340 253 199 188 148 131 113 196.00 131.33
4 PA de Silva 267 168 148 146 138* 127 126 160.00 107.21
5 TT Samaraweera 231 214 142 137* 127 115* 103* 152.71 102.33
6 LD Chandimal 206* 164 162* 155* 132 126 116 151.57 101.56
7 MS Atapattu 207* 201* 133 127 120 118 118 146.29 98.02
8 TM Dilshan 193 147 145 125* 121 112 109 136.00 91.13
9 FDM Karunaratne 196 158* 141 130 107 103 97 133.14 89.21
10 AD Mathews 160 157* 122 120* 115 111 110 127.86 85.67

PRIMARY RATING

The total of the above four criteria comes out to be 1,000.00 points. The Primary Rating is the addition of the points a batsman scored in the four criteria. The Weightage of the Rating is 40 percent.

RANK BATSMAN PRO CON BIP ATT RAT PRI PTS
1 KC Sangakkara 194.71 330.39 224.37 57.12 806.59 322.64
2 DPMD Jayawardena 185.51 296.99 244.02 55.04 781.56 312.62
3 PA de Silva 136.62 289.08 159.24 59.99 644.93 257.97
4 ST Jayasuriya 109.49 262.57 193.49 74.26 639.82 255.93
5 AD Mathews 141.39 272.02 132.31 50.15 595.86 238.35
6 LD Chandimal 109.49 262.71 147.53 51.70 571.44 228.57
7 TT Samaraweera 85.77 283.28 150.62 48.89 568.56 227.42
8 FDM Karunaratne 124.31 231.10 141.58 53.44 550.43 220.17
9 MS Atapattu 86.40 239.73 159.51 48.65 534.29 213.72
10 TM Dilshan 86.24 238.99 137.64 67.66 530.53 212.21

CONDITIONS CRITERIA

The Conditions

The Conditions Ratings are calculated by applying the four criteria of the Primary Rating to diffirent conditions. If Innings are less than the Qualification than the Player gets 50% of the Points. Click on the Rating Titles to see how they were calculated.

The four conditions criteria and thier weightage is as follows:-

CRITERIA POINTS
Home 30.00
Away 120.00
Familiar Conditions 30.00
Unfamiliar Conditions 120.00

HOME/AWAY

HM/AW RATING

Points to note:-

  • U.A.E. is considered as a second Home for Pakistan and Afghanistan.
  • All Home and Away stats of Pakistani and Afghani batsmen are calculated accordingly.

At Home

Min Innings Vs Top Teams: 15

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 DPMD Jayawardena 129 7167 59.73 52.46 866.42 25.99
2 KC Sangakkara 124 6830 60.44 55.56 820.43 24.61
3 ST Jayasuriya 102 4114 43.77 65.83 660.12 19.80
4 PA de Silva 72 3290 52.22 53.07 642.95 19.29
5 AD Mathews 115 4370 44.59 49.16 557.36 16.72
6 FDM Karunaratne 82 3834 48.53 55.21 554.69 16.64
7 TT Samaraweera 70 3123 53.84 46.19 550.01 16.50
8 LD Chandimal 72 3126 48.84 52.64 549.31 16.48
9 MS Atapattu 78 2671 38.71 44.76 508.12 15.24
10 TM Dilshan 75 2925 43.01 70.53 506.88 15.21

Away From Home

Min Innings Vs Top Teams: 15

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 KC Sangakkara 109 5570 54.08 52.60 705.33 84.64
2 DPMD Jayawardena 123 4647 39.72 49.99 590.21 70.82
3 AD Mathews 97 3844 44.18 47.57 579.62 69.55
4 PA de Silva 87 3071 36.13 48.81 572.58 68.71
5 LD Chandimal 89 3235 39.45 47.82 525.84 63.10
6 ST Jayasuriya 86 2859 35.74 64.39 516.53 61.98
7 TT Samaraweera 62 2339 43.31 47.92 511.16 61.34
8 TM Dilshan 70 2567 38.89 60.63 496.20 59.54
9 MS Atapattu 78 2831 39.32 44.12 490.92 58.91
10 FDM Karunaratne 109 3388 32.27 47.85 488.67 58.64

FAMILIAR/UNFAMILIAR CONDITIONS

FC/UC RATING

Points to note:-

  • Unfamiliar Conditions (UC) is Outside Asia for Asians and In Asia for Non Asians.
  • Familiar Conditions (FC) are the opposite.

Familiar Conditions Rating

Asians In Asia

Min Innings Vs Top Teams: 20

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 DPMD Jayawardena 179 9399 56.28 52.57 911.75 27.35
2 KC Sangakkara 165 9355 61.55 55.15 898.80 26.96
3 ST Jayasuriya 124 5188 45.11 65.13 726.71 21.80
4 AD Mathews 154 6043 45.78 48.57 705.04 21.15
5 PA de Silva 108 4431 45.21 50.11 690.85 20.73
6 LD Chandimal 103 4509 49.01 50.95 678.61 20.36
7 FDM Karunaratne 119 5136 45.05 53.10 674.58 20.24
8 TT Samaraweera 94 4275 54.11 47.43 659.45 19.78
9 TM Dilshan 104 4107 42.78 69.92 561.89 16.86
10 MS Atapattu 107 3462 35.69 44.19 534.26 16.03

Unfamiliar Conditions Rating

Asians Outside Asia

Min Innings Vs All Teams: 10

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 KC Sangakkara 68 3045 47.58 51.44 767.28 92.07
2 MS Atapattu 49 2040 46.36 44.85 711.34 85.36
3 PA de Silva 51 1930 38.60 52.75 661.20 79.34
4 AD Mathews 58 2171 40.96 47.95 649.22 77.91
5 DPMD Jayawardena 73 2415 34.50 47.56 546.38 65.57
6 ST Jayasuriya 64 1785 30.25 65.55 537.43 64.49
7 TM Dilshan 41 1385 36.45 55.25 537.06 64.45
8 FDM Karunaratne 72 2086 29.80 47.93 533.19 63.98
9 LD Chandimal 58 1852 34.30 48.07 528.48 63.42
10 TT Samaraweera 38 1187 35.97 45.15 462.53 55.50

CONDITIONS RATING

The Conditions Rating is the addition of the points a batsman scored in the four criteria. The Weightage of the Rating is 30%.

RANK BATSMAN AWAY HOME UC FC CON PTS
1 KC Sangakkara 84.64 24.61 92.07 26.96 228.29
2 DPMD Jayawardena 70.82 25.99 65.57 27.35 189.74
3 PA de Silva 68.71 19.29 79.34 20.73 188.07
4 AD Mathews 69.55 16.72 77.91 21.15 185.33
5 MS Atapattu 58.91 15.24 85.36 16.03 175.54
6 ST Jayasuriya 61.98 19.80 64.49 21.80 168.08
7 LD Chandimal 63.10 16.48 63.42 20.36 163.36
8 FDM Karunaratne 58.64 16.64 63.98 20.24 159.50
9 TM Dilshan 59.54 15.21 64.45 16.86 156.05
10 TT Samaraweera 61.34 16.50 55.50 19.78 153.13

SECONDARY CRITERIA

Secondary Rating

It consists of three parts. If Innings are less than the Qualification than the Player gets 50% of the Points. Click on the Rating Titles to see how they were calculated.

The three secondary criteria and thier weightage is as follows:-

CRITERIA POINTS
Low Scoring Inns 50.00
Top Form 100.00
Impact Innings 150.00

LOW SCORING INNS

LSI RATING

Low Scoring Inns (LSI) are those inns in which batting average is less than 30.

Min Innings Vs All Teams: 15

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 AD Mathews 117 3402 31.50 48.30 772.39 38.62
2 FDM Karunaratne 105 2803 27.48 48.65 757.07 37.85
3 KC Sangakkara 102 3209 32.74 48.49 756.13 37.81
4 DPMD Jayawardena 121 3301 27.97 44.49 704.00 35.20
5 PA de Silva 94 2177 24.74 46.71 663.48 33.17
6 LD Chandimal 90 2296 26.09 47.88 631.86 31.59
7 TT Samaraweera 60 1626 28.53 43.96 582.40 29.12
8 ST Jayasuriya 98 1999 21.97 58.31 579.59 28.98
9 TM Dilshan 71 1421 20.59 58.82 476.76 23.84
10 MS Atapattu 81 1480 19.73 37.59 462.72 23.14

TOP FORM

TF RATING

Points to note about Top Form Rating:-

  • TF is calculated by taking the best 50 consecutive innings of a batsman.
  • The inns are taken such that his points are maximum.
  • Only innings against Top Teams are considered.

Min Innings Vs Top Teams: 20

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 DPMD Jayawardena 50 3311 68.98 52.59 895.40 89.54
2 KC Sangakkara 50 3245 66.22 56.61 836.38 83.64
3 ST Jayasuriya 50 2367 49.31 64.51 686.48 68.65
4 PA de Silva 50 2425 52.72 50.35 651.29 65.13
5 TT Samaraweera 50 2230 54.39 49.45 627.24 62.72
6 AD Mathews 50 2334 55.57 49.59 614.68 61.47
7 TM Dilshan 50 2100 43.75 69.74 591.95 59.19
8 FDM Karunaratne 50 2019 41.20 52.16 553.66 55.37
9 MS Atapattu 50 1873 40.72 39.89 549.56 54.96
10 LD Chandimal 50 2087 43.48 50.69 548.70 54.87

IMPACT INNS

II RATING

Impact Inns are those innings which have an impact in terms of runs or strike rate. Know All About II. Points to note about II:-

  • A Batsman should score at least 30 runs to qualify.
  • An Inn is included in II if it is 15 percent of the total runs or
  • The SR is high or in a successful chase while being Not Out.

Min Innings Vs Top Teams: 30

RANK BATSMAN DIS II II/Dis% RAT WTG
1 KC Sangakkara 216 81 37.50 643.17 96.48
2 AD Mathews 185 67 36.22 632.29 94.84
3 DPMD Jayawardena 237 86 36.29 627.96 94.19
4 PA de Silva 148 52 35.14 601.83 90.27
5 TT Samaraweera 112 45 40.18 594.81 89.22
6 LD Chandimal 146 47 32.19 518.53 77.78
7 ST Jayasuriya 174 53 30.46 506.79 76.02
8 TM Dilshan 134 43 32.09 479.81 71.97
9 FDM Karunaratne 184 54 29.35 463.90 69.58
10 MS Atapattu 141 35 24.82 402.89 60.43

SECONDARY RATING

Secondary Rating is the addition of the points a batsman scored in the three criteria. The Weightage of the Rating is 30%.

RANK BATSMAN LSI TF II SEC RAT
1 DPMD Jayawardena 35.20 89.54 94.19 218.93
2 KC Sangakkara 37.81 83.64 96.48 217.92
3 AD Mathews 38.62 61.47 94.84 194.93
4 PA de Silva 33.17 65.13 90.27 188.58
5 TT Samaraweera 29.12 62.72 89.22 181.07
6 ST Jayasuriya 28.98 68.65 76.02 173.65
7 LD Chandimal 31.59 54.87 77.78 164.24
8 FDM Karunaratne 37.85 55.37 69.58 162.80
9 TM Dilshan 23.84 59.19 71.97 155.00
10 MS Atapattu 23.14 54.96 60.43 138.53

OVERALL RATING

The OVERALL Rating is the addition of the points of all the above criteria. The rating is out of 1,000 Pts.

RANK OV RANK BATSMAN NAT PRI RAT CON RAT SEC RAT FIN RAT
1 8 KC Sangakkara SL 322.64 228.29 217.92 768.85
2 19 DPMD Jayawardena SL 312.62 189.74 218.93 721.29
3 43 PA de Silva SL 257.97 188.07 188.58 634.62
4 51 AD Mathews SL 238.35 185.33 194.93 618.61
5 60 ST Jayasuriya SL 255.93 168.08 173.65 597.65
6 82 TT Samaraweera SL 227.42 153.13 181.07 561.62
7 89 LD Chandimal SL 228.57 163.36 164.24 556.17
8 102 FDM Karunaratne SL 220.17 159.50 162.80 542.48
9 115 MS Atapattu SL 213.72 175.54 138.53 527.79
10 121 TM Dilshan SL 212.21 156.05 155.00 523.27

BRIEF EXPLANATION

Dynamic Nature

Most of our ratings are dynamic, and as new matches are played, the rating of earlier batsmen may change if current batsmen set new benchmarks.

Trend Setter (TS)

  1. TS is the player who does the best in a criteria.
  2. The rating of all other players are calculated taking the TS as the benchmark. Example:-
  3. TS Runs: 2,000; Player X Runs: 1,000; Section Points: 250.00
  4. TS Points: 250.00 (Max)
  5. Player X Points: Runs/TS Runs X 250 = 1,000/2,000 X 250 = 125.00.
  6. Ratings of all sections are calculated similarly with Runs being replaced by the Criteria Stat.
  7. Know All About the Trend Setter
    8. .

Top Teams (TT)

  1. An opposition is counted as a TT considering its Win/Loss (WL) Ratios in last 7 years.
  2. Home, Away, In Asia, Outside Asia and Overall WL Ratio is considered.
  3. The WL Ratio should be more than a certain value overall or in specific condition.

Abbreviations

  1. AVE - Average or Runs/(Inns - Not Out)
  2. BF - Balls Faced
  3. FP - First Played by Year
  4. INF - Infinite
  5. LP - Last Played by Year
  6. MP - Middle Played or (FP+LP)/2
  7. NA - Not Applicable
  8. NI - Not In Top
  9. NK - Not Known
  10. NO, * - Not Out
  11. NQ - Not Qualified
  12. OPP - Opposition
  13. R4BF - Runs for available data of balls
  14. SR - Strike Rate or Runs/Balls
  15. TS - Trend Setter
  16. TT - Top Teams

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