 Mathews was sacked as the captain of the Sri Lankan ODI and T20 team in September, 2018 after a disastrous 2018 Asia Cup campaign where Sri Lanka crashed out of tournament after losing both their group matches against Bangladesh and Afghanistan.Test captain Dinesh Chandimal was named as the replacement for Mathews to captain the limited overs teams.During the first Test against New Zealand in late 2018, Mathews scored his ninth Test century.