Keeping the past out, Sri Lanka will concentrate more on the season-beginning match of the tri-nation so they could start the tournament afresh, says its captain Angelo Mathews.

Along with that, Mathews also says that they’ll seek to evolve through the tournament match by match and attempt to triumph the tri-nation series by playing their better brand of cricket.

“It’s a New Year as well. We would like to put 2017 behind and start all over again,” said Angelo Mathews, who regained Sri Lanka’s captaincy after a six-month hiatus.

“We want to strive to be the best,” Mathews told media at his pre-match day press briefing at the media block of the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium (SBNCS) yesterday.

“We want to play good cricket, keep improving every single game. It is our main target,” he added.

The 30-year-old Mathews, who played so far 72 Tests, 195 ODIs along with 71 T20Is for Sri Lanka, said that they’re not taking any team lightly as any team in international cricket could be dangerous in given day.

“We just have to go tomorrow and start really well. You can’t be complacent in international cricket. They can be a very dangerous team as well,” the pace all-rounder said.

“We don’t want to take things for granted even though they lost to Bangladesh yesterday. We want to start off strong,” he added.

Sri Lanka lost one-day series to Zimbabwe at their home yard last six months ago. They will face off them in Bangladesh once again. Although a good number of changes brings in both setups, this time it’d be a challenging match for them as Mathews thinks.

“Zimbabwe played well in Sri Lanka. They’re a good team. All their players have come back to play for their country, so they’re now even stronger. It’s going to be a challenge, but we look forward to it,” the right-handed all-rounder said of its next match’s opponent.

When asked about the rivals of the tournament which is easier to beat, the experienced all-rounder said, “Both teams are equally good. All three teams in the tri-series are competitive. We can’t be complacent against any team. They are very strong and good. We have to take one game at a time. We have to take tomorrow first, and then look forward to the future.”

After being coach of Sri Lanka, Chandika Hathurusingha brought Angelo Mathews back in charge of the team that put no extra pressure on Mathews what he terms as “We’re very much relaxed.”

“It’s quite difficult to motivate yourself when you’re not doing well. But this is our job. You have to motivate yourselves.”

“The guys are all motivated. Just one or two losses won’t put us into a bad situation. Just few months ago we beat the strong Indian side. It is the same team; we have the skills and talent. We have to go out there and enjoy,” the captain viewed.