We have let the whole nation down, says Mathews

Abu Dhabi - It was the batting failure that baffled captain Mathews

Angelo Mathews repeatedly used the word embarrassing when asked about his team's exit from the Asia Cup in the post-match press conference on Monday night.
Afghanistan showed how far they have come in limited overs cricket with their stunning 91-run victory that sent them to the Super Four stage of the tournament, while brutally exposing the flaws that have crept into the Sri Lankan system in white ball cricket.
The Lankans were handicapped by their inability to handle pressure in their back-to-back defeats against Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
Mathews's team have been on a downward spiral in one-day cricket since the retirement of their three batting legends - Kumar Sangakkara (last ODI, March 18, 2015), Mahela Jayawardene (last ODI, March 18, 2015) and Tillakaratne Dilshan (last ODI, August 28, 2016).
But on Monday evening, their fans still didn't expect them to collapse on a reasonably good batting wicket after the Afghans had put up a fighting total of 249.
It was the batting failure that baffled captain Mathews.
"Batting was the main reason for our failure on both occasions. We didn't pass the 150 mark. We are a better team than this. This was a shocking performance," the 31-year-old player admitted. 
"Of course, you can't take these teams lightly these days. If you look at the Bangladesh team, they have played the same guys for almost 10 years. Also the Afghans have played really good cricket over the past one-and-a-half years," he said.
"So it's embarrassing to go out of the tournament but it's not embarrassing to lose to them because they played better cricket than us. 
"Yes it's shocking that we batted so poorly in both the games."
Mathews was happy with the way his bowlers performed in the two games. "I think our bowlers did well in both the matches to restrict the opponents to 250 and 250 is very much a gettable target on these pitches," he said.
"I will purely put the blame on the whole batting unit. We all take responsibility. It was really unacceptable." 
After their 30th defeat in 41 games since the start of 2017, The Mirror, a Sri Lankan newspaper, launched a scathing attack on the team, warning Mathews's men that they are in danger of becoming a laughing stock in world cricket.  
And Mathews admitted that his team needed to pull up their socks soon. "We need to find solutions. We are just 10 months away from the World Cup and also, you know, losing like this is extremely embarrassing. We have let the whole nation down," he said. 
"It's not about the talent. It's just that we haven't been able to handle the pressure well. It's just purely mental. We can't just move on like this because in a couple of weeks' time we are going to play against England. It's going to be a tough series once again."
rituraj@khaleejtimes.com

• Asia Cup 2019