5 reasons why teams will fear Sri Lanka at the Champions Trophy

Sri Lanka will open their ICC Champions Trophy campaign on June 1 against the number one ranked ODI team in the world, South Africa before taking on India and Pakistan in their other group encounters.

While going through a difficult patch in ODIs over the last year, Sri Lanka have spent an extended period in preparation for the tournament and with some luck, could make a serious run in the tournament.

Here are five reasons why teams will fear Sri Lanka at the Champions Trophy:

05 -Pedigree at major tournaments

"The greatest thing that we have achieved, is that on the big stage whenever it comes to a World Cup we are the country that everyone fears, because we lift our game by three four pegs, to beat some of the best. One World Cup win, one T20 World Cup win, one Champions Trophy win, two World Cup finals in addition – what country, with our (limited) infrastructure and funding (has achieved this)," Sri Lanka Team Manager Ranjit Fernando told Daily Mirror before the team's departure to England for the tournament.

Sri Lanka have done well at major tournaments, qualifying for the final of the 2007 and 2011 Cricket World Cups, winning the 2014 World T20 after qualifying for the final of the 2012 edition, and also reached the final four of the last Champions Trophy.

Not having Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene in the team anymore is going to make the task harder, but Sri Lanka can't be written off.

04 - A mix of youth and experience

With the 2019 Cricket World Cup also in England Sri Lanka could have opted to blood some young players to give them valuable experience in historically challenging conditions.

But Sri Lanka opted to balance off the relative inexperience of young players like Kusal Mendis, Niroshan Dickwella and even Asela Gunaratne bringing back more seasoned players like Chamara Kapugedera and Thisara Perera to prop up the middle order batting.

After missing out for most of 2015 Nuwan Kulasekera also provides experience to Sri Lanka's pace bowling unit.

03- Return of Lasith Malinga

The jury is still out on whether bringing back a not so fully fit Lasith Malinga was a good idea but a Malinga at his best is virtually unplayable.

Coach Graham Ford and Consultant Fast Bowling Coach Allan Donald both hailed Malinga for his impact in the beginning and the end of innings with Ford even implying they would play Malinga even if he couldn't bowl all ten overs.

After returning to the T20 side, playing in the IPL and coming out of those unscathed, Sri Lanka's coaching staff will be confident that he will regain his fitness and contribute towards the Champions Trophy campaign and be the ‘X’ factor that he is when he is at his best.

02- Extended preparation period

Despite naming the final squad for the tournament close to the ICC deadline, preparations have been ongoing for three weeks, with Sri Lanka first having a residential training camp in the High Performance Centre in Pallekele and then travelling to England a week earlier than required to play two warm-up matches against Scotland.

Sri Lanka did lose one of those games but a resounding win in the second encounter showed what the team selected are capable of and Sri Lanka Cricket will hope the extended preparation period will pay dividends when the campaign begins.

01 - 300, or thereabouts

You could argue that scoring 300 is par in international ODI cricket, but there's no doubt that it is still a landmark that gives bowlers confidence to successfully defend.

It's a small sample - Sri Lanka have played only eight matches this year - but in four of their last five ODIs Sri Lanka have either crossed or come close to 300, although poor fielding and bowling left them with just one win in those games.

Coach Ford said that they were hoping for good batting wickets at the tournament and with the calibre of stroke-makers in the team, opposition bowlers could be put under pressure.