Axed from captaincy, Angelo Mathews rues for being made a scapegoat

Ahead of the upcoming series against England, Sri Lanka’s Test captain Dinesh Chandimal has been asked to reprise his role in the limited overs format as well by the Sri Lankan Cricket Board, who decided to remove Mathews as the limited overs skipper.

The decision didn’t go well with the all-rounder, who could make only a total of 38(22,16) runs in the group stage matches and preferred to not bowl owing to being injury prone. He has now lashed out at the board for singling him out for the team’s poor display.

“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 in a letter to Sri Lanka Cricket accessed by AFP.

Angelo Mathews was left wondering as to why exactly he was being relinquished from the captaincy. Though, under Mathew’s captaincy, Sri Lanka have lost 30 of the 40 matches they have played it has barely been over eight months the player was handed the captaincy for the second time.

“The national selectors... have requested Mathews to relinquish his duties as captain with immediate effect,” the board said in a statement. 

Sri Lanka will be facing England in five one-day internationals, one twenty20 and three Test matches from October 10 and would want to iron out their flaws in the second half of the year before they head to the 2019 World Cup.