Sri Lanka’s sacked skipper Angelo Mathews accused the country’s cricket board Monday of blaming him solely for their humiliating exit from the Asia Cup.
Moreover, Mathews has also threatened to retire from white ball cricket after the selectors asked him to step down. In a letter to Sri Lanka Cricket, Mathews accused the board of making him a scapegoat of this poor performance.
“I have been made the scapegoat in this entire saga of Sri Lanka’s dismal performance against Bangladesh and Afghanistan in the Asia Cup,” Mathews said.
The board said it asked Angelo Mathews to step down and allow Dinesh Chandimal to lead Sri Lanka during England’s tour. They square off against each other across formats including five ODIs, one T20I, and three Tests.
“The national selectors… have requested Mathews to relinquish his duties as captain with immediate effect,” the board said in a statement.
However, they did not elaborate the reason behind sacking. But it follows Sri Lanka’s drubbing in the Asia Cup, with losses to lower-ranked Afghanistan and Bangladesh ensuring the island nation’s quick exit from the competition.
Sri Lanka lost by 137 runs against Bangladesh in their opening match of the tournament, and have now lost 30 of their 40 matches since January 2017.
Chandimal, who was already captain of Sri Lanka’s Test side, now takes the reins in all three formats of the game.