We hope to get a result on this wicket: Mathews

india---vs--srilanka---test
Angelo Mathews scored a brilliant half century on the third day of the first test against India at Eden Gardens. Image Source: Xtra Time

Kolkata: Former Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews, who scored 52, on Saturday said there’s still a long way to go in the first test match at Eden Gardens. The visitors after dismissing India for 172 runs see themselves in a spot with 4 wickets back in the hut already. The islanders still trail by 7 runs.

“You never know, cricket is a funny game. We can’t take foot off the gas, and got to score as many runs as possible. I don’t know on this wicket, what is enough. In the next two days, we hope to get a result and play some good cricket,” said the all-rounder after the post days play here.

The 30-year-old expressed disappointment that he could not covert his fifty into a century.

“Fifties are not going to take us anywhere, we got to get to hundreds. It’s not something that will do any help to anyone and my team. I know it’s not going to be easy from here. We all know India is a fantastic team, we just have to be on the top of our game here,” he said.

It has been quite a frustrating year for the former Sri Lankan captain. He was forced to miss the series against Pakistan owing to calf injury.

“It has been a quite a frustrating year for me, especially with injuries. I’ve been going in and out of the side. It’s not easy to have the same rhythm. I had a good two months’ layoff. I’m in a good shape and hope I can carry on doing a good job for Sri Lanka,” he said.

Lauding the Indian pace trio, Mathews said, “Especially in the last few years, Indians have produced some fantastic fast bowlers. All the three (Shami, Bhuvneshwar and Umesh) are top class and you need to be able to mentally prepared with good skills to tackle them,” said Mathews.

“All three are very skilful. They keep coming at you and you can’t relax at all. If you see the loose balls were very minimal. They were top class,” he said.

Lastly, on being asked to comment on the green top at the Eden Gardens, Mathews said it has not changed much from the first day when it was swinging.

“On the first day it was seaming a little bit but today it was swinging around and seaming as well. We had to fight out. I don’t think it changed drastically from day one.”