Sri Lanka’s winning captain Angelo Mathews praised Rangana Herath and God that made it possible for Sri Lanka to achieve this historic win in a thrilling fashion at the Galle International Cricket Stadium.
Mathews said that he was praying the whole time during the chase and that God helped them by keeping the rain away.
“When we came to the last four overs the umpires told so and I was praying the whole time. We tried our best to finish off within those four overs,” said Mathews after the match.
The clouds opened up just as Mathews hit the winning run in the nick of time and the crowd danced in the rain in celebrations while some ran towards the Galle Fort for cover from the rain.
“Only bad light or rain could have stopped us from reaching the target. We had luck and the rain held up till I scored the winning run,” added Mathews.
The match seemed to be drifting nowhere till the fourth day and Angelo Mathews decided to declare their first innings with less than 90 runs lead.
Sri Lanka is also in the habit of taking the match to the wire and finish off with nail biting finishes.
“We had faith in ourselves and kept fighting till the last ball was bowled. The last five matches we played had gone down to the wire. Every single day we kept fighting and believing.”
Angelo is also hopeful of giving a great send off to Mahela Jayawardena with the series win as they did to him and Sangakkara at world T20.
“What a great player he is. The way they were sent off in T20 was amazing. They deserve to be sent off like that. He has contributed so much to Sri Lanka cricket. Hopefully we can do it in the next game and next few months in ODIs too,” observed Mathews.
Mathews did not forget his bowlers who were the main reason for this win and was led by ‘man of the match’ Rangana Herath.
“He (Rangana) has bowled around 250 overs during the last three matches. He has done a great service. Dilruwan also bowled well in the first innings. He was helpful to Rangana. Don’t forget Shaminda and Dammika who also bowled well.”
Man of the match Rangana Herath said when it comes to playing against Pakistan it gives him the advantage mentally as he has done well against them.
“I have taken more than 70 wickets against Pakistan. This is not the kind of pitch which was not so friendly for bowlers but there was something for the spinners and as Angelo said we had faith,” said Herath.
