"He used to be my wallpaper when I was a kid" - Luke Jongwe's revelation about Angelo Mathews after his heroics in the 2nd T20I vs Sri Lanka

Zimbabwe all-rounder Luke Jongwe has claimed that Angelo Mathews was his role model growing up and that he kept the Sri Lankan cricketer's photo as his wallpaper. Jongwe admitted that emotions are running sky high and thanked the almighty for the heroics against Sri Lanka in the second T20I on Tuesday.

Requiring 20 runs off the final over, Jongwe slammed Mathews for 24, hitting three sixes, including one off a no-ball. The right-handed batter was inevitably pumped as Zimbabwe chased down 174 to level the three-match series.

Following the match, the Harare-born cricketer was quoted as saying by ESPNcrcinfo:

"He (Matthews) used to be my wallpaper when I was a kid. He was still using Gray-Nicolls gear at that time. I was still a youngster. On Facebook at one point, he was my profile picture. There's too much happening for me today. There are a lot of emotions. I'm just grateful to God."

Mathews had starred for Sri Lanka in the first T20I with 46 and followed it up with an unbeaten 66 in the second. However, his 1.5 overs cost 35 runs as the hosts lost the chance to level the series.

"We knew we just need to keep wickets intact" - Luke Jongwe

Jongwe, 29, recalled observing that something had changed in the wicket dramatically when Zimbabwe were bowling at the death. Hence, the tourists were confident of chasing down any score.

"I think 20 runs was a lot to be honest. The wicket got better to bat on - Sri Lanka had been 25 for 4, and we were looking to restrict them to 140. But when we bowled in the death - I bowled in the death as well - we talked afterwards and thought that something had changed in the wicket. The ball was starting to come on to the bat nicely. We knew we just need to keep wickets intact and build partnerships to try and get our team over the line," he explained.

The third and final T20I will be played on Thursday.