New Delhi: Watching your team slid out of contention in an event they are defending champions can never be an easy feeling, but Sri Lanka skipper Angelo Mathews sought to make the most of an uninspired performance after losing to England by just 10 runs in their Super 10 league game at the Kotla here on Saturday.
Hampered by a twanging hamstring, Mathews had done his best, striking an aggressive unbeaten half-century even as Sri Lanka’s chase of a middling total sunsided around him, leaving the articulate all-rounder looking for positives from their campaign in the ICC World Twenty20 2016.
“It has been a disappointing few months for all of us. We’ve let down the fans and we’ve let down the whole country. We haven’t played good cricket at all. We’re disappointed,” he said at the post-match press conference. He also asked for patience from the unit. “All we can do is try and stick to our combinations and not try and change the team too much. Try to pick about 20 players and re-evaluate them over six months — give them an opportunity to settle down and see what they come out with in terms of performances.
“We can take decisions then. Quick decisions won’t solve this matter. We have to try and be patient. “If you look at the style we played in, we are not deserving of a semifinal place. The team didn’t play well. That’s why we lost.
“Our plan in this match was to score a lot of runs in the first six overs, and lose no fewer than two wickets. Unfortunately we lost four wickets. After that it was difficult,” said Matthews. “Still, we could have won, but we lost that opportunity. Eng-land’s fielding was very good. Those two catches — especially the one off Dasun Shanaka — turned the game. We will take some lessons from this, and we really need to develop in all three disciplines.”
Mathews stayed positive till he ran out of able batsmen at the other end. The regular fall of wickets eventually did in his ambitions of scripting a turnaround. “We should all take responsibility, but recently, the batting and bowling has not been good,” the skipper said.
