Dubai: Delhi Bulls have signed up Sri Lanka’s star all-rounder and former captain Angelo Mathews for the upcoming Abu Dhabi T10, commencing from November 14.
Speaking to Gulf News, Anis Sajan, team mentor of Delhi Bulls, said about their latest catch: “Mathews is a great finisher. He is an experienced cricketer and was in good form during the recent World Cup, hitting a century against India while recently, he hit two half-centuries against Bangladesh. I wanted a player like him because West Indies’ Shefrane Rutherford, being a T20 player, was only to play in the T20 matches for West Indies against Afghanistan but they have changed the schedule and the dates are now clashing with the T10 event. I may also lose Afghanistan’s Mohammad Nabi and so we quickly grabbed Mathews, whom many overlooked during the draft.”
Sajan has added Mathews to the list of strong players in his team which includes captain Eoin Morgan, Shoaib Malik, Zaheer Khan, Adil Rashid and Sohail Tanvir.
“Mathews will arrive on November 11. His countrymen Kusal Perera and Dushmantha Chameera are also in the team.”
Sajan, who has been assembling the team in consultation with coach Stephen Fleming, said: “Our coach Stephen Fleming has always stressed on the need to have a good balance of experience and youth. A robust batting technique, nagging consistency with the ball and athleticism in the field, all set by an imperturbable temperament has made us select him in our Delhi Bulls squad. I am happy that Angelo has made himself available for all the games.”
Commenting on Angelo’s inclusion, Fleming said in a statement: “With Angelo, we get a cool and calm cricketer who has a knack of finishing games. We have seen it on the world stage with Sri Lanka and I am confident we will see it in T10 this month.”
Bulls will play their first match against Deccan Gladiators.
