Fallen Angelo Mathews rises again

New Delhi: Senior Sri Lanka batsman Angelo Mathews finally found his mojo towards this closing end of the three-match Test series, notching up his eighth hundred under immense pressure and putting on 181 invaluable runs with is captain, Dinesh Chandimal, at the Kotla here on Monday.

That notwithstanding, Mathews was reasonably satisfied at his input that helped the visitors avoid the threat of a follow-on and drag them to within 180 runs of India’s massive 536/7 declared. “Very pleased,” he said later. “Big relief as well. I knew I was hitting the ball well in the nets. After the Kolkata Test, where I scored a 50, I was disappointed that I couldn’t capitalise on it.

“Once I had a start, I wanted to make the most of it. There was a little bit of luck as well. It all happens in the game and I am pleased to cross three figures. But then, I could have gone onto get a bigger one. But credit to the Indian bowlers. They kept at it. We had to work extremely hard for our runs.”

Mathews felt there had been no really negative fallout of Sunday’s pollution-related issues with the India players. “It was one of those unique occasions where no one knew what to do. It didn’t hamper the relationship of players on the field. Off the field we are great friends and it will remain the same. Former Sri Lanka skipper, however, agreed that the late collapse had been something of a setback.