Sri Lanka lost both of their completed matches at the T20 World Cup, falling to South Africa in New York and Bangladesh in Dallas. Additionally, their match against Nepal in Florida was washed out on Tuesday. This early elimination means it has now been a decade since Sri Lanka last reached the semi-finals of a men's T20 World Cup.

On Saturday, Angelo Mathews apologized to Sri Lanka on behalf of his teammates, expressing their heartbreak over "letting the entire nation down." Their group-stage exit from the T20 World Cup 2024 was confirmed when Bangladesh defeated the Netherlands in St. Vincent on Thursday.

"We've let the entire nation down and we are really sorry because we've let ourselves down. We never expected this," Mathews said. "We came across a lot of challenges but those are not something to worry about. It's unfortunate that we didn't make the second round."

Sri Lanka will face the Netherlands in St. Lucia on Sunday night in what is now a dead-rubber match for them.

"We can't take any given team lightly," Mathews said ahead of Sunday's match. "We saw Nepal almost beat South Africa yesterday. It's unfortunate that our Nepal game was washed out, but it is what it is. We have just one more game in the tournament and we'll play for our pride.

"We haven't done justice to ourselves, especially the way we played in the first two games, so it's very unfortunate. We are heartbroken, and we are hurting so much within ourselves. But it's another day tomorrow and then we have to come up against the Netherlands, and the Netherlands are a very, very dangerous team. So, we hope to play well and beat them."