Angelo Mathews says he felt betrayed for being sacked from captaincy

Former Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews came under heavy criticism for his leadership in the ongoing Asia Cup, where his team lost to Bangladesh and Afghanistan and was knocked out of the group stage. He was thus replaced by Dinesh Chandimal as the ODI skipper. Following his sacking, Mathews has said he feels ‘betrayed and let down’ for what he believes is wrong treatment meted out to him.

In an emotional letter, Mathews has mentioned plans of retiring from limited-overs cricket. He also wrote that captaincy should not be the only area which should bear the brunt of a team’s poor performance. Sri Lanka’s ODI captain from 2013 to the middle of 2017, Mathews is certainly disappointed with the way he has been treated after the latest stint as skipper.

“I’m willing to take part of the blame but at the same time, feel betrayed and let down if the blame is solely put on me,” Mathews wrote. “As you know all decisions are taken through the mutual understanding with Selectors and the Head Coach. And though I do not agree with the reasoning that the losses should be carried single-handedly to the Captaincy, I however eagerly and wholeheartedly respect the request of the selection committee and the head coach asking me to step down and do so with immediate effect.”

“I wish to put it on record that though Sri Lanka had suffered these heavy defeats in the Asia Cup, which is shocking to say the least, especially in the backdrop where we had a reasonable series against South Africa, I had no intention of quitting and running away from the issues at hand especially owing to the World Cup being a dozen games away.”

“I also believe that if the selectors and coach are of the view that I am unfit to play ODI and T20 cricket and thus not entitled for my place in the team, I would also consider retiring from the ODI and T20 formats as I never want to be a burden to the team.”

Captaincy rotation

In the last 18 months, Sri Lanka have been led by Upul Tharanga, Lasith Malinga, Chamara Kapugedara and Thisara Perera in the limited-overs formats. Continuous change in captaincy has also caused the team’s downfall.

They have lost 30 out of 47 ODI matches played since 2017 and its high time something clicks for the 2011 World Cup finalists.

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