Alex Hales hit 116 as England inflicted the eventual champions' sole defeat of the tournament, reaching their 190-run target with four balls to spare in Chittagong back in March.
However, the tourists will be hampered at The Oval this time around by the absence of influential duo Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara, who both retired from T20 internationals after tasting glory earlier this year.
The duo racked up 76 runs between them in Sri Lanka's six-wicket triumph over India in the final to bring the curtain down on their T20 careers.
One person who may have thought his days in international cricket were over is Peter Moores, but Tuesday's fixture marks his first match back in the England hot seat against a full member nation since re-assuming the reins from Andy Flower last month.
Moores appointed Sri Lanka coach Paul Farbrace as his assistant, which could add a little bit of needle to this encounter.
Farbrace's departure led to Marvan Atapattu's appointment as interim coach and the former opener led his side to a 79-run one-day international victory over Ireland in Dublin in his first match in charge, with the second leg of the double header abandoned due to rain.
England's stars will have prepared for this clash following the opening round of fixtures in the domestic T20 Blast competition this weekend and Eoin Morgan will lead the side in the absence of Stuart Broad, who is recovering from a knee injury.
"I'll be a very proud captain," Morgan told ecb.co.uk. "It's something that I've really enjoyed over the years when I've been asked to do it, especially when I've done it in international cricket.
"It's certainly been something that I've thrived upon and loved both sides of it - winning and giving guys caps and watching them flourish in either forms of the game."