Nilakshika Silva became the latest veteran to notch a notable career landmark, surpassing 2,500 international runs, in Sri Lanka’s third match of their ICC Women’s T20 World Cup campaign, but her personal milestone came on a day to forget for the Chamari Athapththu-led side as they were bowled out for 98 and suffered a five-wicket loss to a Hayley Matthews–led West Indies at County Ground, Bristol on 21 June 2026.
Coming into the game 12 runs shy of the landmark, the 36-year-old middle-order batter shepherded Sri Lanka’s innings with a resilient 30 off 26 balls from number six, lifting her overall international tally past the 2,500-run milestone. Silva’s knock was one of the few bright spots in a nightmarish batting display that saw the Lankans collapse under disciplined West Indies bowling after Matthews elected to field.
Sri Lanka’s 98 all out in 19.4 overs left too little for their bowlers to defend, and they slipped to their second defeat of the tournament, leaving them fifth in the group with two points from three matches.
Nilakshika Silva’s landmark is the product of long-term consistency across formats. Since her T20I debut against the West Indies at Colombo on 7 March 2013, she has compiled 1,340 runs in 97 T20I innings at a strike rate of 100.44 and an average of 18.87, including two half-centuries in 117 matches for Sri Lanka in the format. In ODIs, where she debuted on 3 November 2015 versus New Zealand, Silva has added 1,178 runs in 54 innings at a strike rate of 73.44 and an average of 28.04, with four fifties in 60 matches. Those cumulative returns underpin the veteran’s durability and value to Sri Lankan batting over more than a decade.
A familiar figure on the World Cup stage, Silva is contesting her seventh ICC Women’s T20 World Cup since making her tournament debut in 2014. Across her previous World Cup appearances, she has amassed 333 runs in 19 innings at a strike rate of 102.77 and an average of 25.61, the second-highest aggregate for Sri Lanka in the tournament’s history for her country. This edition has seen a late-career surge.
She is currently Sri Lanka’s leading scorer and sits fifth overall in tournament runs with 123 from three innings at a striking 128.12 strike rate and an average of 61.50, including an unbeaten half-century earlier in the campaign.
That mix of experience and recent form explained why Sri Lanka turned to Silva in the middle order: she stabilises the innings, rotates strike effectively, and can accelerate when the situation allows. Her best T20I performance remains a match-winning 63* off 39 balls against Bangladesh at Colombo on 12 May 2023, a knock that featured four fours and four sixes and earned her Player of the Match honours as Sri Lanka posted 158/3 and won by 44 runs.
Despite the personal high in Bristol, the result underlines how fragile Sri Lanka’s tournament fortunes remain. Their batting depth was exposed against a clinical West Indies side captained by Matthews, and Sri Lanka will need collective improvement with the bat to climb the table and keep their World Cup hopes alive.
For Silva, though, the landmark is a reminder of persistence and adaptability: a 36-year-old veteran still contributing crucial runs on the world stage and adding another proud chapter to a long and steady international career.
