There were a few hiccups experienced shortly after they won the World Cup in March last year when they lost to Pakistan in the final at Singapore, and failed by one run on each occasion to qualify for the finals in Kenya and Sharjah. That apart they have swept away each and every one-day trophy that has been on offer to stamp their credentials without any doubt.
Perhaps the crunch will come in November when they participate in Pakistan's Golden Jubilee Independence for the Jinnah trophy where some of the best one-day sides will be in opposition Pakistan, South Africa and West Indies. All matches are to be played under lights at Lahore, the venue of Sri Lanka's memorable World Cup final win over Australia.
The Pepsi Asia Cup victory over four-times champion India was Sri Lanka's second in the tournament since they first won it in 1986. On that occasion too, Sri Lanka were the hosts, but the losing finalist was Pakistan.
India with their limited bowling attack proved no match for Sri Lanka's powerful batting line-up and they were mercilessly thrashed by eight wickets with plenty to spare. The final became a total anti-climax when once openers Sanath Jayasuriya and Marvan Atapattu had wiped out more than half of India's total of 239 with a stand of 137 off 109 balls.
What was more remarkable and stunning than the half-centuries scored by Jayasuriya, 'Man of the Final' Atapattu and 'Man of the Series' Arjuna Ranatunga, was the fielding of the Sri Lankans.
Never in the history of one-day cricket has the spectators been treated to an array of five magnificent catches in one innings. Needless to say Muthiah Muralitharan's catch along the long-on boundary to dismiss Mohammad Azharuddin was the best of the lot, but the others were as equally stunning - Roshan Mahanama's one-handed effort at short mid-wicket to dismiss Rahul Dravid, Ruwan Kalpage's running catch at long-on to send back Sachin Tendulkar and Aravinda de Silva's two low attempts to dismiss the dangerous looking Saurav Ganguly and, the big hitting Robin Singh, proving that his reflexes were still sharp, closing in on 32.
For most of the tournaments Sri Lanka had won, it was the batting of De Silva that had proved conclusive. On this occasion, Ranatunga played the stellar role when he found his long-standing deputy was out of sorts (scoring only 61 runs from four innings) to steer his side through.
The Sri Lanka captain had an excellent tournament with the bat, accumulating the highest aggregate - 272 for an average of 136.00. Only Azharuddin with an average of 185.00 was ahead of him in the final averages.
Ranatunga played one of his finest one-day innings (although he admitted later that it was not his best) in the league contest against India, when he scored an undefeated 131 to earn an unlikely victory after Jayasuriya had gone for a first ball duck, and De Silva for six and Sri Lanka on a shaky nine for two in the third over, chasing 228.
Atapattu opening the batting with Jayasuriya had his best tournament in his chequered career. With 255 runs (avg. 85.00) in the tournament, Atapattu has established that he has come to stay as Jayasuriya's opening partner.
Jayasuriya on the other hand, continued to demonstrate that there was no opening batsmen in the world to score as swiftly as he does when he finished with a strike rate of 115.25 - the only player in the tournament to have one over 100.
Jayasuriya also proved his capabilities as a one-day all-rounder by taking six wickets at a cost of 24.50.
India, although strong in batting with the return of Azharuddin, who showed that class is permanent, and form is temporary, when amidst mixed reactions at his inclusion, he proved his critics wrong by ending up as the highest scoring Indian batsman in the tournament with an aggregate of 185.
India's problems lay with their bowling and against a class side like Sri Lanka, they were badly exposed.
The general feeling among the cricketing public was that Pakistan would have provided better opposition than India in the final. Pakistan who have never won the Asia Cup, nor reached the final in any of the past five tournaments, had their dreams shattered when India won through on a superior nett run after both sides had tied on three points each.
Pakistan lost their opening contest against Sri Lanka by 15 runs, and it was the lack of a long innings by one of their top order batsmen that saw them fall short of the required total.
The country that gained more than its three senior Asian counterparts was Bangladesh, the International Cricket Council (ICC) champions who have qualified to take part in the next World Cup in two years hence.
Participating in their first international tournament since winning the ICC trophy in Malaysia, Bangladesh may have gained a lot playing against three World Cup champion countries - India (1983), Pakistan (1992) and Sri Lanka (1996).
``The lessons we learnt from the tournament were many. Just to name a few, our agility and fielding is below par. Our batting needs commitment and if we are going to sustain ourselves at international level, our bowling lacks consistency in line and length. All those areas need very much to be looked at,'' said Bangladesh coach Gordon Greenidge.
The former West Indies opening batsman has been contracted with Bangladesh to see them through to the next World Cup in England in 1999.
``It took Sri Lanka 15 years or thereabouts to get to where they are now. Basically, up until a year ago, they were an unknown quantity. They would play Test matches, maybe a three match series or one-day games. They'll have excellent individual performances, but not the same team effort,'' said Greenidge.
``Now Sri Lanka have won the World Cup, there is a different atmosphere within the team because they know they are capable of winning the competition. The attitude and confidence is greater. So it is going to take Bangladesh a few years to get to that stage. I hope not so long, because we don't have the luxury of that time any more. What we have to do, we'll have to do much quicker than other teams in the past,'' said Greenidge.