"We are really sorry" - Angelo Mathews apologizes for letting Sri Lanka down after group-stage exit from 2024 T20 World Cup
Veteran Sri Lanka all-rounder Angelo Mathews has apologized for letting "the entire nation down" and not qualifying for the Super 8 phase of the 2024 T20 World Cup.
Sri Lanka came into the tournament with one of the best bowling attacks and a decent batting line-up. But a six-wicket defeat against South Africa, a narrow two-wicket loss to Bangladesh, and a wash-out against Nepal meant they had just one point in three games, ending their campaign prematurely.
"We've let the entire nation down and we are really sorry because we've let ourselves down," Mathews said in a press conference. "We never expected this. We came across a lot of challenges but those are not something to worry about. It's unfortunate that we didn't make the second round."
Before the tournament, the Lankans were also in form, with back-to-back series wins against Afghanistan and Bangladesh.
"That's something we regret because [with] the way we played Afghanistan, Zimbabwe, and Bangladesh in Bangladesh, I thought we didn't do justice to our capabilities in this tournament," Matthews added. "When you come into a World Cup, you can't take any team lightly but unfortunately, the way we played against those teams just before the World Cup, and then once we came back here and the way we played, obviously the wickets were quite different but we didn't do justice to ourselves."
South Africa have already qualified for the Super 8 phase. Bangladesh look set for the same unless they lose to Nepal and Sri Lanka lose to the Netherlands on Sunday.
"Can't take any team lightly" - Angelo Mathews
The Dutch, who have to win against Sri Lanka, to have at least a shot of getting into the next round, can push the Lankans to an embarrassing winless campaign and Mathews doesn't need any more reasons to take the game seriously.
"We can't take any given team lightly," he said in the same presser. "We saw Nepal almost beat South Africa. It's unfortunate that our Nepal game was washed out, but it is what it is. We have just one more game in the tournament and we'll play for our pride."
"We haven't done justice to ourselves, especially the way we played in the first two games, so it's very unfortunate. We are heartbroken, and we are hurting so much within ourselves. But it's another day tomorrow and then we have to come up against the Netherlands, and the Netherlands are a very, very dangerous team. So, we hope to play well and beat them," he added.
Catch all the live action from the Sri Lanka-Netherlands clash here.