Past few months have been awful for Sri Lanka. Apart from the drubbing they faced against South Africa at the start of the year, Sri Lanka had a disappointing result against Bangladesh as they drew the series 2-2 and then crashed out of ICC Champions Trophy. Though Angelo Mathews was not the captain on all the occasions but being the regular skipper, the pressure is always on Mathews to raise the bar of the team, which looks like is creating pressure on him.
Post second defeat in the five-match series against Zimbabwe in the fourth ODI at Hambantota, the all-rounder has given a hint about giving up captaincy ahead of 2019 World Cup so as to prepare a new and young man for the job,
“There’s a lot of pressure on all of us, and as a captain, there is a lot of pressure on me as well. In these games, where our batsmen have done well, our bowlers didn’t perform well – both in this match and in the first one we lost. Our fielding also hasn’t been good at times. Against Zimbabwe, we need to play better than this. If we score 300 and still lose here, there is a big shortcoming,” Mathews said after loss in the fourth ODI.
“I don’t know if I will be going to the 2019 World Cup as captain. Our batsmen are doing well, but sometimes there’s no consistency in our fielding – we don’t do well sometimes. But with the players that we have, we can win these matches. We lost these matches because our bowling wasn’t good. We have to solve this problem quickly,” he added.
The loss against Zimbabwe has been the main reason which has put him under a lot of pressure as Sri Lanka was favourite to win the series, considering the way of win which they registered against India in ICC Champions Trophy and also the considering the Zimbabwe side, which has now turned tide in their favour, coming with performances totally out of the box.
Mathews is also the Test captain and has the role of an all-rounder as well, which further subdues him under pressure. Hence, the Sri Lanka skipper is under stress and we might see his resignation sooner rather than later.
Though this news comes as a bit of surprise as he earlier indicated of playing a role for Sri Lanka in 2019 World Cup but some poor performances might seal is fate. (Read Here: Mathews To Continue As Captain For 2019 World Cup)