Angelo Mathews, the comeback player, wants to "improve further" after leading Sri Lanka to victories

He has also started bowling again, but before the second Twenty20 International match against Afghanistan, he had to pass a fitness test due to a tight hamstring.
Over the past ten years, Angelo Mathews has experienced quite the rollercoaster. He was previously the captain of Sri Lanka's white-ball teams, but when the men's team's performance declined, he developed into an injury-prone senior player. Eventually, the previous group of selectors only used him in Test matches, which greatly irritated Mathews.
But Mathews' performance on Monday in the second Twenty20 International against Afghanistan was his strongest since rejoining the Twenty20 team a few weeks ago. Arriving at No. 7 in the fifteenth over, he struggled initially, making just four of his first nine balls, but he soon started hitting the boundaries.
In the 19th over, Mathews hit three straight sixes off Azmatullah Omarzai. He finished with four sixes and two fours, scoring 42 not out off 22 balls. Over the past two years, Sri Lanka has been in dire need of that kind of finishing firepower in their white-ball teams.

In that innings, Mathews and Samarawickrama put on a fifth-wicket stand for 66 runs. "The plan was for Sadeera Samarawickrama to bat deep so that I could bat with freedom," Mathews remarked. "In the first 10 to fifteen balls, I had trouble. When I hit the ball first, it went to the fielder every time. However, I was certain that I could cross the line. Sadeera's trajectory gave me confidence that I could make my shots. If I can get singles and twos in the first few deliveries, I can get even better."

Even though his fitness had become a bone of contention with the selectors and had precipitated a notorious public altercation with the then-coach Chandika Hathurusinghe, Mathews has subsequently made a point of showcasing his gains in this area. He was chosen once more by a bunch of selectors he gets along with, and he has now started to deliver significant success in Twenty20 Internationals.

Zimbabwe's attacks will not be as strong as Sri Lanka's, while Afghanistan's squad is without Rashid Khan and Mujeeb Ur Rahman. However, in his first two T20I innings in over three years, Mathews scored 46 runs off of 38 balls and 66 runs off of 51 deliveries against Zimbabwe. Before the fastest innings of the match occurred in the second Twenty20 International against Afghanistan, he was not allowed to bat in the third game and only managed to score six in the opening T20I.

Since his return, Mathews has not only amassed 160 runs at a strike rate of over 136 but also took five wickets at an economy rate of 8.95. A few years ago, Mathews' health prevented him from bowling, but more lately, he has once again made bowling a key component of his contributions to the squad. It's not without its problems, though; before to playing on Monday, he had to pass a fitness test due to a strained hamstring.

However, this Sri Lankan team, who are considering the possibility of conserving the majority of Matheesha Pathirana's overs till the end, will find it useful that he takes the new ball in particular. Up until now, Pathirana has been most effective towards the close of an innings; with the new ball, he has been significantly less effective. In this series, Pathirana has taken six wickets, five of which have come in overs 16 and 20.
"Since the Zimbabwe series, I was told to bowl to help the balance of the side," Mathews stated. "I'm ready to bowl at any time. I chatted with selectors as well, and we had a good conversation. I'm ready to fully commit. I'm having fun playing cricket and want to give the squad my all."