He was first included in the national squad for the tour of Pakistan in 2008-2009[1] and was reported to have been injured in the attack on the Sri Lankan team by terrorists.

He also had to deal with the circumstances of not being allowed to go pass the metal detectors during his overseas trips with the national side mainly due to the presence of the foreign objects in his body.

[6] He largely played holding role in white ball limited overs matches although he had his moments leading the pace attack in crunch situations.

He is known for his quick and accurate bowling action especially with the knack of generating big swing and lateral seam movement.

He mostly played the holding role and bowled relatively lesser number of overs due to his inability to take wickets in spin friendly Sri Lankan pitches.

[12] On 2 February 2022, Lakmal announced that he would retire from all forms of international cricket following Sri Lanka's tour of India.

[21] He was one of the three players earmarked for a bright future by Chandika Hathurusinghe way back in 2008 during Sri Lanka A's cricket tour of South Africa in 2008.

[30][31][32] Lakmal was called up as a replacement for Dilhara Fernando in India in December 2009 and he made his ODI debut in the second match in Nagpur, where he bowled eight wicketless overs for 58 runs before Sri Lanka won by three wickets.

[35][36] By dismissing Chris Gayle of West Indies, Lakmal became the third bowler to take a wicket with the first ball bowled in a Test match at a new venue, joining Kapil Dev of India and Imran Khan of Pakistan, which was held at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium.

[37] Lakmal soon became the mainstay in the national side ever since the retirement of Chaminda Vaas and he cemented his position on the back of impressive performances at domestic level.

He made his T20I debut against England on 25 June 2011 and he dismissed Michael Lumb on his opening over to claim his first T20I wicket.

He had his first breakthrough test series against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates where he ended up taking 12 wickets on the pitches which didn't quite suit well for the seamers to cash in.

[46] He ran through Indian batting lineup in the first test match at Kolkata in November 2017, where he delivered a dramatic spell of 4/26 in India's first innings.

[52][53] At one stage, India were seven down for just 29 runs, until MS Dhoni scored his fifty to reach total over hundred.

[55] During the Bangladesh Tri-series, Lakmal played as the spearhead of Sri Lanka bowling line-up where his counterparts always struggled with injuries.

[58] He became the fourth Sri Lankan fast bowler to achieve the feat after Chaminda Vaas, Lasith Malinga and Dilhara Fernando.

[60] Few of his notable finest performances in white ball cricket came against South Africa where he was given the responsibility to defend seven runs off the last over during the third ODI of the series in August 2018 which he delivered up to perfection helping Sri Lanka to win the nail biter by a narrow margin of three runs (D/L) in a rain affected game.

[63][64] The following month, he was named the captain of Sri Lanka's Test side, for the third and final match against the West Indies, after Dinesh Chandimal was handed a one-match ban for ball tampering.

[69] On 11 July 2018, ICC concluded its hearing on the ball tampering issue and violence of code of conduct by regular captain Dinesh Chandimal, who had pleaded guilty to a level three spirit of cricket offence.

Chandimal, coach and team manager's hearing took place before the start of the first Test against South Africa, with them found guilty.

On 8 August 2018, Lakmal defended seven runs off the final over to cap off Sri Lanka to end an 11-match losing streak against South Africa.

[84] During the second test against the West Indies in March 2021, he started the proceedings with six straight maiden overs including two wickets in a flat pitch.

He drew wide attention in test cricket from 2018 where he was deemed to be a better bowler than before due to the fact that his bowling average in away soil was just around 22.30 since the start of 2018 to March 2021.