Sri Lankan captain Angelo Mathews was glad to break their final jinx as they had earlier lost in several finals to leave empty handed. The young captain helped his side lift their fifth Asia Cup trophy, first after 2008.
“We had to break the barrier and I am glad that we broke that barrier between Sri Lanka and the finals. The credit should go to the whole team. We had a tremendous six weeks here and we remain unbeatable. We played some great cricket,” said Mathews at the post-match conference at SBNS yesterday.
The islanders exhibited tremendous fighting character during their six week stay in Bnagladesh and Mathews said, “We have always been a team where we never give up. We keep fighting till the last ball is bowled. We actually showed that a few times. I am glad that the fighting spirit is there. The guys really wanted to do well today, a big game and big tournament, we haven’t won a major trophy in quite a while, so the boys were eager to go out there and perform.”
However, he admitted losing Sangakkara did make them panic but also praised Lahiru Thirimanne for his approach along with Mahela Jayawardene.
“He (Lahiru) has been amazing for us, he got injured in the last series, but he came back for us. He was very courageous to come up and play. You push him up the order, down the order, wherever he gets the opportunity, he scores runs for us,” he said.
However, despite enjoying an unbeaten run so far in Bangladesh, the Lankan captain said the World T20 ahead is a completely new tournament and they will start fresh. “T20 is a funny game and a different format as well. It’s a fresh tournament, it’s a World Cup and all the teams are quite even. There will be a lot of competition. We just have one week to turn up and then play our first game. We will enjoy the win today and be back in a week’s time,” said Mathews.
Meanwhile, Misbah-ul-Haq blamed for not taking early wickets as it cost them in the end. “I think in matches like this, you need early wickets which we didn’t get. Saeed got good breakthroughs. We needed partnerships in bowling as well which it didn’t happen. They bowled not according to the field that was set,” said Misbah.
However the Pakistani skipper praised his charges and said they played well throughout the tournament while he also hailed Fawad Alam for his century in the big game yesterday.