CT 2017: Angelo Mathews likely to miss Sri Lanka's opening game against South Africa

Team Sri Lanka have received a major jolt ahead of the Champions Trophy 2017. Their skipper Angelo Mathews is likely to be ruled out of their first match of the tournament. They are set to take on South Africa in their tournament opener on June 3 at London. It is the same old hamstring injury that is causing problems for the veteran all-rounder and is now likely to miss the crucial tie.

This comes as a major blow to the team since nothing has been going right for them in the recent past. They were stunned by the Scotland team in one of the practice matches leading into the big tournament, The same losing streak continued in the warm-up fixtures of the Champions Trophy. In their first warm-up match against Australia, the team ended up losing narrowly by two wickets.

Their bowling let them down in that game. However, the solitary positive for them in that particular encounter was their skipper’s performance. Angelo Mathews had scored 95 in the match. In their next warm-up game against New Zealand, things did not improve a great deal for them either. The first sign of Mathews not being fit was evident from the fact that he did not participate in the match.

Poor run in recent times

Sri Lanka came up with an improved show with the bat as they mustered 356 runs on the board. However, it was the bowling that failed to live up to the mark yet again as they succumbed to another defeat. The team morale is bound to be low in such a case. Now, with Angelo Mathews being likely to be rule out of the opening game for the team in the tournament proper, nothing gets worse for the Islanders.

Talking about the recent form, they had a very embarrassing time at home with the touring Bangladesh side emerging with a series leveling effort. Mathews was not a part of that series as well due to the same hamstring injury.