Mathews adamant on placing his bets on Malinga
Since coming back to the side after a two-year injury layoff from the 50-over game, Lasith Malinga has made little impact, but skipper Angelo Mathews believes the old warhorse must be a part of the playing XI when they meet Pakistan in a must-win game on Monday.
The winner of Monday’s clash will qualify for the semi-finals but both teams -Sri Lanka and Pakistan are beaming with confidence following their shock wins against India and South Africa respectively.
“I don’t think it’s a worry at all. He is a vital player in the side and his presence gives us that x-factor,” Mathews told the Sunday Times soon after a training session in Cardiff, yesterday afternoon.
Malinga’s performance so far has been 2 for 127 off 20 overs.
“We all know he is coming back after a while and if you look at the India match, he gave us the break through picking Rohit Sharma when they were batting really well. He also picked up the wicket of Shikhar Dhawan which slowed them down towards the end of the innings. So I don’t think we have to worry about him at all. He has done it for us before and I am sure he will do it for us in the future,” Mathews said.
After their embarrassing 96-run defeat in the opener, Sri Lanka rallied around under Angelo Mathews to stun the pre-tournament favourites India by seven wickets to keep their semi-final chances alive.
“After India’s game, the confidence levels are high but we know that it’s a pressure game again on Monday. If we can play the brand of cricket we played against India, we certainly can make it,” a confident Mathews said.
Mathews also said he intends not to make any changes to the winning combination unless conditions demand it.
“Obviously we have to bring in someone in place of injured Kusal Perera but apart from that I don’t think we will make any changes to the winning combination. We are a bit settled as a team now and we need to move forward with this team,” he said.
Kusal Perera who suffered a tone hamstring during Sri Lanka’s run chase has been ruled out of the Championship and was replaced by Dhananjaya de Silva in the squad.