Angelo Matthews steps down as Sri Lanka captain after humiliating loss to Zimbabwe

Angelo Matthews steps down as captain: The all-rounder, who took the reins at the age of 25 in 2013, led Sri Lanka in 34 Tests, 98 ODIs and 12 T20Is

By: Score Keepers |
July 12, 2017 11:50 am

Dinesh Chandimal has been named the captain of Sri Lanka after Matthews stepped down from the post. Earlier, Angelo Matthhews has stepped down as the Sri Lankan skipper owing to the embarrassing loss to Zimbabwe 3-2. Historically, Sri Lanka cricket team has been blessed with greats over the years, Arjuna Ranatunga also led the Emerald Isle nation to its only World Cup crown in 1996. That shows it is a rich cricketing nation. Hence, losing to minnows Zimbabwe must have hit Angelo Matthews hard. Sri Lanka will soon be hosting neighbors India in their backyard for a complete series, which starts in a fortnight. The loss to Zimbabwe will surely dent their confidence ahead of the India face-off.

After the shocking loss to Zimbabwe, Angelo Matthews admitted that it was ‘one of the lowest points of his career’ and rightly so. “It’s one of the lowest points in my career, and a hard one to swallow,” Mathews had said.

He also added, “It’s one of the lowest points in my career, and a hard one to swallow. Everything went against us, from the toss to misreading the wicket. But there are no excuses. At the end of the day we were not good enough to beat them. They played better cricket.”

In the brief period that Matthews has captained Lanka after the exit of heavyweights like Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardena, he has done fairly well. The highlight of his career has to be the Australia whitewash 3-0 in their own backyard. Under Mathews, Sri Lanka have won an away Test series against England. But their run in the limited overs format has been nothing short of woeful.

Angelo Mathews steps down as Sri Lanka skipper

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The all-rounder, who took the reins at the age of 25 in 2013, led Sri Lanka in 34 Tests, 98 ODIs and 12 T20Is.

This is a team that is yet to come to terms with the transition. As Angelo steps down and leaves a vacuum, all eyes will be on who will take over the responsibility of the Sri Lankan team.