Champions Trophy: Hard To Beat India If We Don't Play Well, Says Angelo Mathews

An underwhelming Sri Lanka will take on India in a crucial Champions Trophy match on Thursday. Having lost their first match against South Africa, it is a must-win match for the Sri Lankan side. The weather will play a big part at Kennington Oval as rain is expected to play spoilsport but Sri Lanka would look to put all that behind and look to win the match against India in order to survive in the tournament. Captain Angelo Mathews conceded that it will be "very hard to beat India" in the group league game.

Sri Lanka have been plagued by injuries with skipper being unable to bowl and senior batsman Chamara Kapugedara already sustaining a knee injury.

Worse, Upul Tharanga has been suspended for two games due to slow over-rate. "As you know, India is a force in world cricket no matter where they play, whether it's at home or away. They have played fantastic cricket especially in the last couple of years.

"It's very hard to beat them unless we are on top of our game. We will all have to pull our socks up and give a great performance tomorrow," Mathews said on the eve of the game against India.

He is realistic about his inexperienced side's chances to win the Champions Trophy and that he believes takes away a lot of pressure from the youngsters.

"We are happy to walk in as the underdogs. I mean, no one really expects us to win the Championship which takes away a lot of pressure out of the guys," Mathews said.

But he agreed that this team needs to learn to deal with pressure.

"I mean, you have got to deal with the pressures. We always have pressures when we play as players. You have just got to deal with it and be as a team.

"I mean, yes, we have had so many greats and they have retired (referring to Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, TM Dilshan). We are slowly rebuilding, but surely, we will come up with a good performance," the skipper said.

However, Mathews didn't agree that gulf between India and other South Asian neighbours have increased.

"No, I don't think so. Yes, India have done extremely well in the past couple years. If you look at our team, we've beaten the Australians, which was the number 1 team a few months back. We beat Australia in Australia. We beat South Africa in South Africa," the skipper said.

"So I don't think there's a massive difference. It's just that there will be phases when you struggle. There will be phases when you play well. So you can't really single out the best team."

On Kapugedara's injury, Mathews said that they are waiting for the MRI report.

"He just got injured at training, so we sent him for an MRI scan. We are waiting for the doctor's report. If need be, we might have to bring in a replacement, which is Danushka," he said.

He agreed that not being able to bowl will affect the balance of his side.

"It does upset the balance a little bit. If I could bowl my 10 overs, unfortunately, I mean, I am okay to play as a batsman but not as a bowler.

"So we have to think about it -- we have to come up with some other plans to try and cope with the Indian batting line-up. But yes, this is what we've got, and we'll definitely use the resources that we've got at the moment."

When asked if he would ask Kumar Sangakkara to comeback from retirement, he smiled and replied in jest: "I always asked him that!"

"Even a couple days ago, I was asking him can you come and play for us, you know, in this game? He has been in absolute (tremendous) form (for Surrey in County). He has been in form ever since he started playing, to be honest.

"Yes, he (Sangakkara) has had a dream career, and it's unfortunate that we don't have him anymore, but he is always willing to help us. He is always having chats with us on how we should play on these conditions, especially, it's his home ground.

"And he has had a lot of chats to all the younger players, including myself," added Mathews.

(With PTI Inputs)