9 June 2017 12:04 pm Views - 7298
Addressing the post- match conference held in London last night, Mathews has said he hoped that the victory may just bring back smiles in the faces of the countrymen after the tragic times in recent past where hundreds of people lost their lives due to a devastating flood.
"It was very pleasing for us to give them a win because we had some terrible times in the recent past, especially with losing a lot of lives due to floods and we are very grateful that we could give them a reason to smile," he said.
Mathews said he was happy that Sri Lanka's traditional Papare band was present in full force at the Oval yesterday.
"That's our trademark, Papare. They come all over wherever we play. The Sri Lankan people like to have fun," he said.
According to the Economic Times, Mathews has termed the ambience as if they were playing a World Cup final.
Sri Lanka staged a brilliant run chase to stun the defending champions by 7 wickets on Thursday.
Mathews’ side was written off by experts in the build-up to the crucial clash at the Oval, but they ignored the doubters to keep alive their bid to qualify for the semi-finals, the Hindustan Times said.