Asia Cup 2018, Angelo Mathews
Angelo Mathews (Credits: Getty)

Sri Lanka skipper, Angelo Mathews was finding it difficult to answer as what went wrong for his side in the Asia Cup 2018. On Monday, Afghanistan beat Sri Lanka by 91 runs and thus knocked the former champions out of the tournament.

Angelo Mathews was extremely disappointed with the team’s performance in both the matches, as he blamed the batsmen who let the nation down.

However, it was indeed one of the biggest upsets in the Asia Cups history. Who would have thought Afghanistan would go through to the Super 4’s ahead of Sri Lanka? It was an exceptional performance by them, and their bowlers were up to the mark yet again. The Lankan batters were found wanting yet another time and never managed to pose a serious challenge.

Ahead of both the matches, Sri Lanka would have taken 261 and 249. However, their batting was so ordinary that Mathews was falling short of words to describe the performance. He revealed it was indeed embarrassing to lose like this. However, he felt Bangladesh and Afghanistan played much better than them and deserved to win.

Sri Lanka Cricket, Angelo Mathews, Asia Cup 2018
Sri Lanka has been knocked out of the tournament.

Angelo Mathews stated the batsmen had let them down

Mathews said the batsmen had let their country down and all of them were very disappointed with the below-par performances they put up in Asia Cup 2018.

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In the game, Afghanistan after batting first posted a competitive score of 249 under challenging conditions. Sri Lanka was in the match for a brief while. However, in the middle overs, there was a slide it yet again, as the Afghans ran through the lower middle order to give themselves a special victory by 91 runs.

“I don’t have answers, to be honest. It was very disappointing. Batting was the main reason behind our defeats on both occasions. We didn’t pass 150 on both the occasions. We are a better team, a much better team than this. It was indeed a shocking performance.”

“Even if Bangladeshis you can’t take them lightly. If you look at them, they have played the same guys for the last ten years. Also the Afghans, they have also played some really good cricket in the last one and a half years. It is embarrassing. But it is not an embarrassment to lose to Bangladesh and Afghanistan. They have played better cricket than us. It was shocking how we batted in both the matches.”

Sri Lanka Cricket, Angelo Mathews
Afghanistan beat Sri Lanka by 91 runs in the Asia Cup 2018. Image Courtesy: Getty

“Losing like this is extremely embarrassing for me and the whole team. We have let the whole nation down with our performance,” Mathews was quoted as saying during the post-match press conference.

Here is the full press conference 

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