Mathews' best - Rain man in Galle, Hero at Headingley

A showcase of mettle

91 & 157* vs Pakistan, Abu Dhabi (2013/14)

The retirements of longtime stalwarts Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara were fast approaching, and Mathews' Test captaincy, still in its infancy, was, perhaps unfairly, being compared to that of his soon-to-be-gone predecessors.

But as Sri Lanka's batting wilted under not-very-testing conditions, slumping to 124 for 8 after being put in, Mathews began to showcase a hitherto unseen Test mettle. A counterattacking 91 off 127, shielding the tail, dragged the visitors to a subpar but acceptable 204, though the main course was still to come.

Sri Lanka wound up conceding a 179-run first innings lead, but if the first innings was Mathews fighting back, the second showed a side many hadn't yet seen as he ground his way to an unbeaten 157 off 343 deliveries.

It helped set a final day target of 302, but more importantly ate up time, ensuring Pakistan had little chance to attempt the chase. Mathews' efforts eventually secured a hard-fought draw and a deserved Player-of-the-Match award.

The rain man

25* vs Pakistan, Galle (2014)

This one is a rogue entry in our list. As day five began, a draw seemed foregone - Pakistan still had nine wickets in hand, there was little in the pitch for the bowlers, and even if Sri Lanka did pick up those wickets cheaply the heavy rains forecast meant the chance of a result was virtually non-existent.

Fast forward a few hours, and a Rangana Herath masterclass had manifested the impossible. While a target of 99 off 21 overs was eminently gettable, the certainty of rain - a case of when not if - was a problem. In fading light, the brazen attempts at time wasting from the Pakistan players was a necessary evil.

It was in the face of all this that Mathews walked out with 40 needed off 55, though realistically it was more like 40 off 30 - 20 perhaps? Whatever it was, Mathews wasn't to know. All he knew was that he would have to make the most of the time that was ticking.

In the end he wound up facing 13 deliveries; two went for six, two more for four. The 13th? A single that was never on, leading to a direct hit that never happened.

With half the batting still to come afterwards, a direct hit would in most scenarios have been inconsequential, but here, in the time it would have taken for the next batter to walk to the middle, the clouds that had been hovering menacingly all day would have finally given way. Instead, when the rains did come, it was no longer as spoiler, rather just another celebrant of the most improbable of wins.

"It was one of the best games I have taken part in," Mathews would proclaim afterwards, and all these years later you'd be hard pressed to disagree.

The peak

160 & 4/44 vs England, Leeds (2014)

Mathews the allrounder has reached almost mythical proportions in Sri Lankan cricket folklore. An all-time what-could-have-been. But in the summer of 2014, Mathews was at the peak of his powers.

Following an uninspired Sri Lankan first innings, England were threatening to bat Sri Lanka out of the game. The hosts had lost just two wickets by the time they surpassed Sri Lanka's 257, but Mathews's 4 for 44 snaked through England's tail and ensured the lead didn't go beyond 108.

It was with bat though that Mathews truly shaped the game to his will, in an innings that was every bit the line between victory and defeat. His partnership alongside Mahela Jayawardene had helped extend Sri Lanka's lead, but certainly not to match-winning territory. Jayawardene's fall led to two more wickets, stunting Sri Lanka's progress and leaving their lead below 200 with just three wickets in hand.

It was here that Mathews steeled his resolve, as might an Anime hero on the verge of collapse. Sri Lanka's collective hand weakened, but Mathews' power grew as he shepherded an equally dogged Herath to dismantle England with precision and a devastating sense of clarity. Their 149-run stand for the eighth wicket was the second-highest for Sri Lanka.

His 160 came off 249 deliveries, perhaps regulation by modern standards, but blazing in that era - particularly in a Sri Lankan context. Mathews steered his team to a 350-run lead and, eventually, a quite dramatic final-day victory.

A show of defiance

111 vs India, Delhi (2017)

Sri Lanka had never won a Test in India, and going into this series any hope of that stat changing was as low as it had ever been. The first match had ended in a draw but in the second, India had scampered home by an innings. The third was seemingly heading in the same direction, headlined by a first-innings Virat Kohli double-ton.

Adding to Sri Lanka's misery was the weather. Air pollution levels in Delhi had reached "very unhealthy" levels, with several Lankan players struggling to cope and one even vomiting in the dressing room. At one point Sri Lanka were left with just 10 available players on the field, a contributing factor towards India's eventual declaration.

This served to bring an edge to an already tetchy contest, with India unimpressed by the number of medical stoppages in play called for by Sri Lankan players. Perhaps it was this which spurred on Mathews, as he and Dinesh Chandimal put on a 181-run fourth wicket stand.

Mathews had passed fifty just thrice in his 10 previous Tests, and had openly spoken of the unending pressure of his role as captain and senior batter. But here he dipped into his reserves of experience, to negate the varying threats posed by the quartet of Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.

Despite his best efforts, Sri Lanka would still end up over 150 in the red, but it showed the youngsters in the side that grit and hard work could get the job done, even in conditions as tough as this. And so it proved as Sri Lanka's young vanguard led the way in batting out day five to secure a hard-fought draw.

He did it all day

83 & 120* vs New Zealand, Wellington (2018)

Mathews had come into this game with a point to prove. Dropped from the white-ball side by then head coach Chandika Hathurusinghe over fitness concerns, he was a man on a mission. In the first innings he had struck a defiant 83, but saved his most pointed retort for the final innings.

With Sri Lanka staring down the barrel at 13 for 3, some 283 runs behind New Zealand, and two full days of cricket ahead, Mathews was joined at the crease by Kusal Mendis. What followed was a bloody-minded display of batting that nobody seemed quite prepared for, even if the pitch that had begun to ease out.

Against an outstanding New Zealand attack that contained Neil Wagner, Tim Southee and Trent Boult, Mathews and Mendis gave nothing away over a whole day's play. New Zealand captain Kane Williamson conceded as much afterwards, exclaiming that his side had tried every trick possible but to no avail.

This was an innings most memorable for Mathews' push-up celebration upon reaching his century, directed at the dressing room. This though would not detract from Mathews' and Mendis' focus, as the pair batted out the entirety of day four, as well as 12 overs on day five - their stand worth 274 off 655 deliveries - before rain brought an end to the game.