Sri Lankan cricket is in turmoil. They were ousted of the Asia Cup after losing their games to Bangladesh and Afghanistan. Angelo Mathews has now been sacked as their ODI skipper and Dinesh Chandimal, their Test skipper, will now lead the side in all formats.
Mathews has hit back after the announcement and has said that he could well retire from all the shorter formats if his board decides to make him the scapegoat after the entire episode.
'I had no intention of quitting and running away'
"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.
"I had no intention of quitting and running away from the issues at hand especially owing to the World Cup being only a dozen games away," Mathews further wrote in his letter.
After Sri Lanka were shunted out of the tournament, Mathews did concede that his side was poor and had asked for forgiveness from the man, but now that the selectors have decided to push him away, Mathews feels he has been left out to dry.
"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. As you know, all decisions [are taken] through a mutual understanding with the Selectors and Head Coach," Mathews wrote.
Notwithstanding the final fallout of the result, Mathews has been in prolific form since the start of 2017. He has scored 888 runs in ODIs at an average of 59.20 across 22 innings. Before the Asia Cup, he was the leading run-scorer for Sri Lanka in the bilateral series against South Africa with 235 runs at 78.33, with a strike rate of 83.
Chandimal has had reasonable success as the leader of the Test side and had led with incredible performances against Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh. However, he was suspended following the ball-tampering issue which erupted in the West Indies. Suranga Lakmal had led the side in his absence and has won all the three matches as the leader of the side.
