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'We had nothing to lose in the second innings' - Mathews

Angelo Mathews conceded he did not really think Sri Lanka could win at lunch on day three, but suggested the dire match situation unlocked the fearless attitude that won his team the Galle Test

Angelo Mathews conceded he did not really think Sri Lanka could win at lunch on day three, but suggested the dire match situation unlocked the fearless attitude that won his team the Galle Test. Sri Lanka had been 108 for 5 - still 84 runs adrift of India - when the first session ended on day three. However, a rousing Dinesh Chandimal counterattack and a sublime unbroken fourth-day spell from Rangana Herath sent Sri Lanka hurtling to a 63-run victory.
"We were down and out for the first three and a half days," Mathews said. "With Chandi's innings - it gave us some sort of life to come back into the game. I think sometimes individually and as a team, when we have nothing to lose, you go out and give it your best shot. That's what happened here for us as well. We had to go out there and get 192 runs to draw level with India, but not think about it too much - not think about a big lead. We just wanted a 100-150 lead to give our bowlers a chance at least."
Sri Lanka's second-innings surge had followed an abject batting performance in the first two sessions of the match, when they collapsed to 183 all out. In the first innings, Mathews and Chandimal had played their shots to collect half-centuries. Both second-innings top-scorers - Chandimal and Jehan Mubarak - also had strike rates in excess of 80.
"After the first innings the batters got together and talked it out," Mathews said. "We said we've got no other choice than being positive. We can't play forward defence all the time, because more often than not it goes to silly point or short leg. We had to use our sweeps, reverse sweeps and be positive. That's the approach we wanted to carry because there was no point just trying to hang in their way. We couldn't have hung in there for three days to be honest. Chandimal made a real difference and the rest of the batters contributed however they could.
"In the first innings - we had played poorly. We were not positive enough. We kept losing wickets. We didn't use our feet. When it came to the second innings we had nothing to lose."
Herath had been miserly but wicketless in the first innings, sending down 33 overs for 67 runs, but yet was instrumental to the victory, claiming 7 for 48 in the final innings. It was a comeback match for Herath of sorts, having been dropped for the final Test against Pakistan in Pallekele, having not taken more than one wicket in each of the two previous Tests.
"Rangana has worked extremely hard in the past few weeks," Mathews said. "He's the bowler he is. It's just that you can have on and off days in Test matches. You can have rough patches as batsmen or bowlers. All you can do is work really hard and come back. He has done exactly that. He's been absolutely brilliant for us over the past few years. Unfortunately we had to leave him out against Pakistan but he showed his character once again. He was absolutely brilliant once again. He's our premier bowler and he's carried us through this whole match."
Mathews, who has now presided over two victories in which Sri Lanka have overcome first-innings deficits of more than 100, said this win would raise belief in his young side: "We've got a couple of seniors in Rangana Herath and Kumar Sangakkara. Sangakkara is leaving after the next game. It is a transitional period for us, but I thought it was a great team effort. It gives us the morale boost to go forward in this tournament. We will definitely go for the kill in the next game."

Andrew Fidel Fernando is ESPNcricinfo's Sri Lanka correspondent. @andrewffernando