India vs Sri Lanka 1st Test: Angelo Mathews Will Bat At Number Four, Confirms Dinesh Chandimal

Angelo Mathews’ return to the Test team for the upcoming series against India is one of the most-talked about topic in the buildup to the three-Test series and not surprisingly, Sri Lanka skipper Dinesh Chandimal was bombarded with questions regarding his predecessor when he entered the room for the pre-match press conference.

The former Sri Lanka skipper, who has been plagued by injuries in 2017, recently missed the full-fledged series against Pakistan with a grade one tear to his calf muscle. The series of injuries began right at the start of the year when he was sidelined for close to five months after sustaining the hamstring injury in the second T20I against South Africa in January. He returned to action during the Champions Trophy but did not bowl. He also did not bowl during the series against Zimbabwe and Test series against India but resumed it during the ODI series against the Men in Blue.

The all-rounder is now once again gearing up to return to action, and he will now be shouldering a big responsibility as Chandimal confirmed that he would bat number 4 in the upcoming series.

“He gives us confidence as a batting unit. He will bat at number four. He has all the experience and at the top of the order and we will get maximum out of it,” Chandimal said on the eve of the opening Test. “We are looking forward to his experience. He was unbelievable in 2013-14. Hope he will put his hands up and do best.”

Mathews, meanwhile, will have to be at his level best to perform well in Tests. The 30-year old is yet to score a Test hundred since August 2015 with his form only dipping since then. After the century in 2015 which came against India, he managed only 917 runs in 32 innings at 28.65.

Chandimal further rued the fact that Mathews would not be able to bowl in the Test series to avoid any injury again.

“We will miss Mathews as a bowler as he gives us more confidence and can balance the side really well. Unfortunately with his injury he can’t bowl in Tests,” he said.

A few months ago, the Islanders were whitewashed 9-0 across three formats by India at home, and Chandimal said his team had learnt the lessons from the heavy drubbing

“They have been outstanding. They have done a lot of hardwork, on and off the field. They are really good as a team in every format. They look really balanced,” he said. “We all know India are the number one side at the moment in Tests. They have played some really good cricket last two years. It was a tough series in Sri Lanka and as a team we have learnt a lot from that time.”

“We just need to get positives of the last series. We are more confident after winning against Pakistan,” he added.

Meanwhile, the weather in Kolkata is threatening to play spoilsport with a deep depression in the Bay of Bengal causing a lot of rainfall since last night.

When asked about it, he said:

“You can’t control the weather. As a team we have a good gameplan, we have something up our sleeves. We are coming tomorrow here to play the game without thinking about the weather. If it rains we will change the gameplan and go forward.”

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