Once I had a start, I wanted to capitalise: Angelo Mathews

Former Sri Lankan skipper, Angelo Mathews ended the dry-patch of runs he’s been going through as he scored a brilliant century in the ongoing Test match between India and Sri Lanka at the Ferozshah Kotla Stadium, New Delhi. This knock held a great deal of significance for the senior player as it marked the eighth Test century of his career, one that came after a gap of more than two years. Mathews was eventually dismissed by Ravichandran Ashwin for the personal tally of a perfect Nelson.

Having scored just two half-centuries in the last 16 innings that he’d played, Mathews had been under the scanner for quite some time now. However, he dispelled all doubts and along with Lankan skipper, Dinesh Chandimal lifted his team from an abysmal low of 75-3. The duo stitched a partnership worth 181-runs that helped Sri Lanka gain lost ground in the Test match.

Angelo Mathews speaks about his century

As reported by Cricbuzz, Mathews expressed his elation at having scored the big knock and told the journalists, “I am very pleased and it is a big relief as well. I knew I was hitting the ball well in the nets. After the Calcutta Test, where I scored a 50, I was disappointed that I couldn’t capitalise on it. [I] had the confidence as I was hitting the ball well in the nets and it all came good today. Once I had a start, I wanted to capitalise.” He also admitted that he was riding on a bit of luck as he was dropped twice at the second slip during the proceedings of the game, once on the score of 6 and then again on 98. “Little bit of luck I had today. It all happens in the game. But then, I could have gone onto get a bigger one. Credit to the Indian bowlers though. They kept at it. We had to work extremely hard for runs,” Mathews went onto say,” said Mathews.

Speaking about his mental set-up during the innings, he revealed, “Thanks to the television crew, I saw it on the big screen when I was in 90s today. I am bit more matured nowadays. I have played a bit of cricket. I didn’t try to think about it too much although to be very frank, I wanted that hundred badly as I was waiting for this opportunity. They were bowling really well. We had to grind and work hard. Chandi’s [Dinesh Chandimal] knock was so fluent. For me, not the most fluent innings, but one where I had to work extremely hard. Glad that it paid off. We know that we are up against the number one ranked team in the world. All four of their bowlers keep coming at you. Virat [Kohli] is rotating them nicely. Pressure is on us all the time. I keep saying that, we had to work extremely hard. You don’t get many loose balls.”

Mathews credits Sri Lankan batting coach