Angelo Mathews set to return for upcoming India tour

Former captain Angelo Mathews is finally set to return when Sri Lanka visit India for three Tests, three One-Day Internationals and three Twenty20 International in November. Till recently, Mathews, who has been in the news more for his injuries in the past twelve months, had been nursing a grade one tear to his calf muscle which ruled him out of the two-Test series against Pakistan. Kusal Perera and Asela Gunaratne who had been out with hamstring and thumb injuries respectively, have also recovered in time to be considered for selection in the upcoming series.

The return of Sri Lanka's three batting mainstays will serve as a huge fillip to an otherwise diffident team who find themselves in the middle of a poor patch, having lost their last 16 limited-over games, including ODI and T20I series whitewashes at the hands of India and Pakistan.

"Angelo and Kusal Janith [Perera] have both recovered and they will be considered for selection for the Indian series. Asela Gunaratne is fit as well," SLC CEO Ashley De Silva said.

While Sri Lanka did manage to overturn their fortune with a Test series win in the UAE against Pakistan - first time since Australia achieved the feat in 2002 - which came after an insipid home series against India, they succumbed to a string of losses in the limited-overs formats again. Ahead of a challenging India tour, Sri Lanka's interim head coach Nic Pothas mentioned that a few changes to their outfit could serve them better given the mood in the squad is at an all-time low.

"It's pretty obvious what the mood will be like when you've lost 16 games," Pothas said. "With respect to new faces, that's a conversation that we need to have with the selectors. But I think it stands to reason that in any walk of life, when you've had negative results for a period of time you need to see some change somewhere.

"On the Test series, let me remind you that we made history," he stated. "We did something that no other nation has ever done in the UAE. It tends to have been forgotten due to the fact that ODIs follow the Tests. But we have to give huge credit to the team and to the captain," Pothas noted.

"Overall across the whole tour we can certainly glean a lot of positives. The fielding has improved out of sight and certainly was one of the shining lights throughout the month that we were out there. And the bowling as well was of a very high standard; the execution of the plans was very pleasing.

"Obviously, some of the batting didn't go according to plan, but that's the cricket world and other teams are allowed to play well. It was also one of the best bowling attacks in the world so it's always going to be tough, but I think on the whole the series started off very well with that Test win. Certainly the attitude, the character and the fight shown by that team was very, very pleasing."