Sri Lanka’s Heartbreak: Failing to Reach T20 World Cup Semi-Finals Since 2014
Following Sri Lanka’s disappointing group-stage exit from the T20 World Cup, team veteran Angelo Mathews issued a sincere apology on behalf of his team-mates, expressing their “heartbreak” at “letting the entire nation down.”
The 2014 was the last time the Sri Lankan men’s team reached the semi-finals of a T20 World Cup, a decade-long drought that has left their fans deeply disappointed. Their campaign at the ongoing tournament was marked by logistical challenges, with the team scheduled to play their group games across four different venues – a fixture list that spinner Maheesh Theekshana described as “so unfair.”
Despite the off-field hurdles, Mathews refused to use them as an excuse, acknowledging that the team simply “didn’t do justice to their capabilities” in the first two matches against South Africa and Bangladesh, both of which they lost. Their final group game against Nepal was washed out.
“We’ve let the entire nation down and we are really sorry because we’ve let ourselves down. We never expected this,” Mathews said, clearly dejected by the team’s early exit. “We came across a lot of challenges but those are not something to worry about. It’s unfortunate that we didn’t make the second round.”
With their tournament ambitions now over, Sri Lanka will face the Netherlands in their final match, which holds no bearing on the knockout stages. However, Mathews stressed that they will play for their “pride” and not take the opposition lightly, especially after witnessing Nepal’s near-upset of South Africa.
The 100-ball cricket schedule, live updates, and the popularity of backyard and beach cricket have all heightened the expectations around the T20 World Cup. For a team like Sri Lanka, with a rich cricketing heritage, this premature exit is a bitter pill to swallow.
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