Published: Mar 11, 2016, 01:14 AM (IST)
Edited: Mar 11, 2016, 06:22 AM (IST)
Johannesburg, Mar.10 (ANI): Sri Lanka’s Angelo Mathews, who has recently replaced injured Lasith Malinga as the T20 skipper, believes that the World T20 would allow his side to get free from the burden of expectation. Sri Lanka, which have slipped down to the eighth spot in the T20 rankings, will head into the T20 pinnacle event following a disastrous performance at the recently-concluded Asia Cup in Bangladesh. Despite the recent slump in form, the 28-year-old called on his side to play with a lot of freedom, saying that it would allow them to beat most teams, Sport24 reported. Lanka, which have claimed their last World T20 title in Bangladesh in 2014, have been badly weakened after the retirements of star batsmen Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene and have also struggled to fill the void left by them. ICC T20 World Cup 2016: Angelo Mathews not ready to lead Sri Lanka
Mathews, however, said that the morale of the team was quite good and they were not at all depressed about the Asia Cup. He added that his side was focusing on expressing themselves fully in the upcoming challenge. Sri Lanka will begin their ICC World T20 tournament at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on March 17. ICC T20 World Cup 2016: Sri Lanka name Angelo Mathews as skipper
Earlier, Elevated as captain at the last minute for the ICC World Twenty20 2016 because of an injury to the designated skipper Lasith Malinga, top Sri Lanka all-rounder Angelo Mathews today said he took up the challenge as he could not let his country down. “I was told to lead the team in the World Cup. How can I say no? I can’t let the team and country down. I will take this as a positive as I know they have trust in me. I will try my best to do whatever is possible to get to the top with the team I have,” said Mathews at the pre-tournament media conference here. The 28-year-old Test captain maintained that the change at the helm will not affect the team as the players are focused.
With inputs from PTI
