For the Sri Lankans, desperately looking to finish the One-Day International leg of the Indian tour on a high by clinching the three-match series (scores tied one-all) when they take on the host in this port city on Sunday, there was welcome news when seasoned all-rounder Angelo Mathews was declared fit for the decider.
It was Sri Lankan manager Asanka Gurusinha who came out with the news on Friday, after the team had a full-length training session in the morning at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy Stadium here.
He also added that there were no injury issues with any of the 15-member squad.
Mathews showed clear signs of discomfort in the second one-dayer when he hit a valiant century, his second ODI hundred against India, at Mohali.
The presence of the 30-year-old Mathews, who has been in and out of the team in the last one year or so because of injuries, is vital for the Lankans determined to prove a point or two after the drubbing received in Mohali.
The injury worries for the star Sri Lankan all-rounder can also be attributed to the amount of cricket he has been playing — 194 ODIs in just nine years after making his debut in 2008 besides playing 72 Tests scoring 4914 runs at an average of 44.27 including eight centuries and 28 fifties.
And he is also a key bowler often living up to the expectations of the team with crucial breakthroughs.
That Mathews is a force to reckon with even in Indian conditions was pretty much evident in his impressive opening spells with the new ball in this series — he had bowling figures of 4-1-9-0 in Dharamshala and 5-2-8-1 in Mohali.
Importantly, Mathews had a full training session along with the other members of the team on Friday — bowling and batting — to the delight of his camp.
However, the Indian team which was scheduled to train in the evening cancelled the session.
