Thivi
In Sri Lanka, no one is sent home permanently. It doesn’t take too long for a messiah to become a pariah, and then a messiah once again. All it takes is a clever manipulation of optics. In this perennially nostalgic part of the world, the past can be easily made to seem better than the present. This holds true in both politics and cricket. The latest instalment in this never-ending Sri Lankan disposition is the unsurprising clarion calls to bring back Angelo Mathews.
Sri Lanka’s performance in ODIs is concerning, we are told. The chagrin of having to play the qualifiers to find a spot in the 2023 World Cup is a blot in the nation’s history, they say. The major reason for these, they aver, is the misfiring middle order. To fix the middle order, Sri Lanka need Angelo Mathews, they conclude.
Are Sri Lanka floundering in ODIs after Mathews’ sacking? Is Sri Lanka’s middle order really struggling? And is Mathews the remedy for Sri Lanka’s ailments? This article is an attempt to answer these questions.