Would have been a different story if we had held those catches: Angelo Mathews

Sri Lanka had to win against Pakistan on Monday to earn a semifinal spot in the ongoing Champions Trophy. Choosing to field first, Sarfaraz’s boys bowled extremely well to restrict the Islanders for 236. The skipper himself was at the forefront of a rickety chase which was eventually sealed with 31 balls to spare and 3 wickets in hand.

Sri Lanka usually performs exceptionally well in ICC events but failed to go past the group stage in this tournament. They only have themselves to blame for the loss as first, after being in a commanding position they gave away the advantage after some ordinary batting in the middle overs and second, their fielding was abysmal in the chase which allowed Pakistan to get away with the game at the end.

‘Our fielding was pathetic’

Speaking of the loss at the post-match press conference, Mathews termed the fielding effort as “pathetic” and said that things would have been different if they had held onto their chances. Sri Lanka dropped three straightforward catches during Pakistan’s chance.

“Looking at today’s performance (fielding), well, I thought we were pathetic once again. If we had held those catches, it would have been a different story today, especially at very crucial times — first over, and towards the end, where we let go of Sarfaraz was very crucial. Being an international team — well, I thought we’ve improved a little bit, but today was not really our day.”

Sri Lanka used to be a good fielding unit but of lately their fielding standards have gone down considerably. Sri Lanka’s cricket manager – Asanka Gurusinha – has always mentioned that the standards of fielding are improving but things haven’t looked any different for the Islanders.

‘Genuine effort in improving fielding’

Mathews, though, said there has been a genuine effort by the boys and the support staff to raise the fielding standards of the side but it didn’t happen in the virtual quarter-final game against Pakistan at Cardiff.

“Well, the boys have worked extremely hard. Today, yes, we dropped three catches, but there has been a genuine effort from the boys and from the support staff, and we’ve expressed a lot about our fielding, and we’ve talked about a lot, and we put a lot of energy on our fielding. So, yes, there has been a genuine effort on fielding.”

Sri Lanka will now go back home and need to introspect. They were labelled as the underdogs at the start of the tournament but did exceptional well to win against a strong Indian side. They fell short against a resurgent Pakistan side at the Sophia Gardens.