Angelo Mathews will play only as a batsman against India

Before the start of the eight edition of ICC Champions Trophy, nobody considered Sri Lanka as a potential favorite to advance to the semi-finals. After the retirement of two pillars of Sri Lankan cricket, namely- Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene, their team has only seen a downhill slope. The ICC World Cup 2011 finalists will be facing the champions of that tournament on Thursday.

But things are not quite the same. While Virat Kohli & Co. are considered as favorites to win trophy, neighbour Sri Lanka is languishing at 7th position in the ICC ODI Team Rankings. They lost their first game against the Proteas, and on Thursday the will face a do-or-die scenario. To rub salt in the wounds, International Cricket Council (ICC) handed a two-match ban to Upul Tharanga for poor over-rate against South Africa. Tharanga was captaining the side against the likes of Amlas and Tahirs.

The only good news for the Lankan camp is that skipper Angelo Mathews is fit to play against India. But there also is a sort of bad news, as Mathews will only play as a batsman. “The injury is much better now. I’m fully fit now. I won’t be bowling, but I’m fully fit to play as a batsman,” said the 30-year old effective all-rounder while speaking to ThePapare.com. “I could have probably played the last game, but there was a chance of risk, so the management and the selectors decided that I shouldn’t play,” he further added.

Mathews feels that the team must support the captain

The Colombo-born cricketer said that Tharanga’s ban is a huge setback for the Lankans. He also said that a captain has many important decisions to take in the field and hence he cannot monitor the over-rate. He feels that the other players must support the leader in this aspect. “It is a big loss, and there’s no excuses. You need to try and support the captain on the field. Rather than him planning to bowl the 50 overs in that time, the others have to look after that and the captain has to get on with the game and make decisions in the middle,” said the Sri Lankan skipper who is just 8 runs away from 4500 ODI runs.