Angelo Mathews Unsure of Reasons Behind Sri Lanka’s Slump

Sep 2, 2017 at 12:25 PM

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Angelo Mathews Unsure of Reasons Behind Sri Lanka’s Slump

Former Sri Lankan captain Angelo Mathews has admitted that he does not understand what exactly is the problem with the current team failing to get the positive results over the past few months, in an exclusive interview with Cricbuzz.

“I cannot pinpoint one reason as to why this keeps happening. Mind you, this is the same team that chased 322 in England against the same opposition and won. Definitely we are not short of skill, but we lack confidence at the moment,” Mathews told Cricbuzz referring to Sri Lanka’s win against India in Champions Trophy.

However, the Lankan team has had their share of injuries since the prestigious tournament as six players, from that game, are currently nursing their wounds.

“When you don’t have the best eleven in the park that really affects you. Some of those guys are definitely impact players and we miss them big time,” Mathews explained.

Sri Lanka are playing at quite a low level in the recent months, and their lowest point came when they lost ODI series to Zimbabwe at home last month, and they have since had very hard especially playing against India.

“Losing the Zimbabwe series was a bitter pill to swallow. We have not had any momentum since then. The moment we get our momentum back, everything will fall in line,” noted Mathews.

The Islanders are yet to win against visitors India after having lost test series 3-0 and have lost all four ODIs in the series so far. Mathews feels that the hosts do not have any momentum but believes that the team could turn things around taking one game at a time.

“It’s all about momentum. All what we need is to win one game and when that happens, I am sure we will turn things around. That will help us to overcome many things. All what we need to do is to win that one game to gain confidence.”
“It is very hard to keep losing like this. The whole team is down. The way we have lost, in particular, has been disappointing. We have simply not been able to compete. We have lost before too, but we have competed well,” Mathews added.

However, Sri Lanka are keen to qualify for ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 directly and are determined to win the final ODI against India. A win would ensure that they stay in contention to directly qualify for the mega tournament.

The 168 run defeat to India in the fourth ODI meant Sri Lanka have to rely on other results as well as they are no longer dependent on their results. Their fate is in the hands of West Indies who are set to play Ireland and England. If Windies manages to win the one off ODI against Ireland and England series by 4-1, then they would directly qualify for the world cup.

“That is a concern, no doubt. We would like to win the next game at least rather than leave everything at the hands of West Indies. Whatever we can control we have to control. I must say that India have played outstandingly well. We seniors have to lift our games as we have not lived up to expectations.”
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