{"id":27588,"date":"2014-01-25T20:32:04","date_gmt":"2014-01-26T01:32:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=27588"},"modified":"2014-01-25T20:57:58","modified_gmt":"2014-01-26T01:57:58","slug":"sri-lankan-cricket-capt-angelo-mathews-turns-from-hero-to-zero-in-five-days-due-to-negative-tactics-in-sharjah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=27588","title":{"rendered":"Sri Lankan Cricket Capt Angelo Mathews Turns from Hero to Zero in Five Days Due to Negative Tactics in Sharjah."},"content":{"rendered":"


\nby <\/p>\n

Rex Clementine<\/strong><\/p>\n

Last week, Angelo Mathews was the darling of Sri Lankan cricket. The Test series against Pakistan had seen him emerging as one of the team\u2019s three leading batsmen alongside Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene. His match saving efforts in Abu Dhabi where he made 91 and 157 not out were simply brilliant. He excelled as a leader in the second Test which Sri Lanka won by nine wickets.<\/p>\n

Since Sanath Jayasuriya led Sri Lanka to a series win against Pakistan in 2000, no Sri Lankan skipper had led the country to an away series win except against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. There were some impressive names since Sanath. Marvan Atapattu, Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara and Tillekeratne Dilshan all tried and failed. (Hashan Tillekeratne didn\u2019t captain away from home).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Mathews was chasing something unique that too in his first series as captain. He was set to usher in a new era and take the team on a new path. He was well and truly set to break a 14-year-old jinx. In Sharjah, he spoilt all the good work he had done on the tour. In a matter of five days Mathews turned from hero to zero. Not only his negative tactics, but even the manner in which he marshaled his troops was criticized as he was complaining to the umpires about the poor light. In Sharjah, Mathews lost many of his admirers and it will take a long while to win them back.<\/p>\n

Mathews is only 26. He has a long career ahead of him. Perhaps he is the man to achieve what only Arjuna has done \u2013 the World Cup glory. But he has to give up his negativity.<\/p>\n

The difference between Arjuna and other Sri Lankan captains was that the former was creative and aggressive. Arjuna feared none. He promoted unorthodox players and they went onto play key roles in his side as Sri Lanka marched towards World Cup triumph in 1996.<\/p>\n

This is not the first time that Angelo has played negative cricket. In the home series against Australia in 2011, Sri Lanka went into the third Test at SSC one down. They had to win the final Test to square the series.<\/p>\n

In the first innings, in order to get to his maiden Test century, Mathews adopted go slow tactics. In the end he got there, but the captain in waiting had sacrificed the team\u2019s cause.<\/p>\n

The criticism for what he did at SSC was mild as he was young and not the skipper. But what he did in Sharjah attracted outright contempt and rightly so. Hopefully he will learn.<\/p>\n

We should give credit to Mathews for the way he has developed in the last 12 months. The captain has added consistency to his game and has become one of the most reliable batsmen in the side. He occupies a tough position as well in the batting line-up. Number six is a slot that very few batsmen have succeeded in world cricket. At six, you often bat with the tail. Special skills and temperament is required to excel at that position. Few men like Michael Bevan, Mike Hussey, V.V.S. Laxman and M.S. Dhoni excelled at six. Mathews is set to join them.<\/p>\n

Mathews\u2019 development, however, will not be complete unless he gives up his negative mindset. Except for the second innings in Sharjah there\u2019s been no negativity in his batting. As a batsman he has gone from strength to strength and will take over the reins from Sangakkara as the team\u2019s leading batsman. Mathews was Man of the Series against Pakistan after compiling a remarkable 412 runs at an average of over 100.<\/p>\n

However, as a captain Mathews needs to grow. What he displayed in Sharjah was simply outrageous and should never be repeated on a cricket field again. He has no one to blame but himself. The country had just begun to admire him as a fine leader. Sharjah ruined it all.<\/p>\n

COURTESY:SUNDAY ISLAND<\/em><\/p>\n

Tweet<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Rex Clementine Last week, Angelo Mathews was the darling of Sri Lankan cricket. The Test series against Pakistan had seen him emerging as one of the team\u2019s three leading batsmen alongside Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene. His match saving efforts in Abu Dhabi where he made 91 and 157 not out were simply brilliant. …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Sri Lankan Cricket Capt Angelo Mathews Turns from Hero to Zero in Five Days Due to Negative Tactics in Sharjah.’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27588"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27588"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27588\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27598,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27588\/revisions\/27598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}