 Mathews was able to bring the team to quarter finals of the World Cup 2015 under his captaincy, where they lost the quarter final against South Africa on 18 March 2015.This defeat was Sri Lanka's first lost in World Cups after 2003, without reaching for the semi finals.Mathews became the fourth Sri Lankan all-rounder to take 100 ODI wickets with more than 3000 ODI runs after Sanath Jayasuriya, Aravinda de Silva, and Tillakaratne Dilshan.