5 Players who could feature in their last Asia Cup
With age being a major factor, there are players who might not feature in the next edition of the Asia Cup
2. Angelo Mathews (Age 36, Sri Lanka)
An outstanding all-rounder in his prime who has continuously won games for Sri Lanka. He is gifted with the bat and ball, but his fielding at times has seen him take some ridiculously difficult chances. He has captained Sri Lanka in all formats and currently sits at 4th most successful ODI captain for Sri Lanka in terms of wins.
2014 became a golden year for Sri Lanka with Angelo Mathews in charge, as apart from winning various tournaments that year, the Lankan Lions won the 2014 Asia Cup. The island nation reached the quarter-finals of the 2015 World Cup under Angelo’s captaincy. Alongside averaging 62.2 with that bat in 2014 and had successful years in 2017 and 2018 with the bat averaging respectively 63.6 and 52.5. With the ball in ODIs, he took overall 120 wickets at an impressive 4.6 economy rate.
The issue with Angelo has been that injuries have plagued him for large amounts of time and this has curtailed his participation. His body hasn’t allowed him to play as many matches as he could’ve. He doesn’t bowl as much these days which often went against him as he was seen as the anchor man to contribute to Sri Lanka’s batting and bowling. Fast bowling-wise, there is heavy competition in the squad with Dasun Shanaka and Lahiru Kumara making in-roads, and Wanindu Hasaranga has cemented his place as the lower-order all-rounder.
The recent World Cup qualifiers saw Angelo get dropped from the squad and his participation beyond now is not clear. Whether Angelo plays in the Asia Cup is doubtful, but he can be proud of his achievements and what he has done for Sri Lankan cricket.
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