Champions Trophy 2017 | Win against India one of the best, says Angelo Mathews
Sri Lankan skipper Angelo Mathews has termed the win against India yesterday as one of the best wins for his side and praised the team for pulling that off. In the match, Sri Lanka also broke the record for the highest chase in the tournament after they successfully chased 322 with 8 balls to spare.
"To beat India is quite fantastic it is one of our top wins. It was a very good effort from the bowlers as they restricted India to 321. We know this is a good batting wicket and 300 is quite chaseable," said Mathews after the victory.
The Sri Lankan skipper heaped praises on their batting lineup especially the duo of Danuskha Gunathilaka and Kusal Mendis who weaved a 159-run stand for the second wicket and scored 76 and 89 respectively to head their side across the finishing line. Mathews himself scored an unbeaten 52 off 45 deliveries to finish the game off in style.
"To walk in and bat like he (Gunathilaka) did was fantastic. Kusal Mendis is a great player and we rate him very highly. Kusal Perera also played a good hand. Those crucial partnerships were the key for us.
"I thought the partnership between Gunathilaka and Mendis, they set the platform for us (the middle order) to go out and express ourselves. I think that was a turning point of the match," said Matthews.
Following the successful 321-run chase, Sri Lanka now holds the record for chasing down the highest total which was earlier credited to England who had chased down 305 runs against Bangladesh in the inaugural encounter of the tournament.
With the victory, Sri Lanka have kept their semi-finals hopes alive, and now both the league games in the group have become virtual quarter-finals for the teams with the winners assured a direct entry into the last four of the competition.
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