Follow UsWhile Angelo Mathews might be done with the Test format in the coming days, he has his sights firmly on the 2026 T20 World Cup, as his last assignment in the shortest format. The 38-year-old revealed that he will hang up his boots from white-ball cricket after the T20 World Cup next year, which Sri Lanka co-hosts with India.
"There are six more months until the next T20 World Cup, and I'll give it a try depending on what my body tells me," Mathews said, reported Cricbuzz.
Mathews was a major part of Sri Lanka’s white-ball success back in 2014, when they ousted India in the final. In that particular contest, Mathews opened the bowling and picked up Ajinkya Rahane’s wicket.
"I hope to retire from white-ball cricket at that World Cup. If we can win another World Cup, I'll try to contribute toward that. So I'll do everything I can to improve my fitness and skills over the next six months."
While Mathews is leaving a big void in Sri Lankan cricket, the all-rounder believes that the future for the Island nation looks ‘bright’.
"The future looks bright," he said. "Since Sanath (Jayasuriya) took over, and Upul Tharanga and his team came in, the communication has been excellent. Whether it's seniors, juniors, or anyone else, they always communicated with us. That matters,” he added.
So, what’s the new management doing differently from previous years? Mathews points out that communication is a key aspect, starkly in comparison to the previous management.
"Communication is key to having a good environment and performance will follow. We've seen that. We've done extremely well in Test matches. We even had a chance to be in the WTC final. And in ODIs and T20s, we've done very well in the last two years.
"So the communication was clear. The environment was good. That's why performance kept getting better," he added. "They're doing a great job. There's a lot of talent and many players coming through the ranks. The future looks bright."