Mathews made his List A debut for Sri Lanka Under-23s against New Zealand A at Police Park Ground, Colombo in September, 2005. He captained the Sri Lankan cricket team in the 2006 U-19 Cricket World Cup in Sri Lanka. He later made his first-class debut for Colombo Cricket Club in November, 2006.

In the Indian Premier League cricket, he played for Delhi Daredevils in the 2017 Indian Premier League season. He is one of the most sought out players in the Premier League world, having been bought by the Pune Warriors for US $950,000.

In March 2018, he was named as the captain of Kandy's squad for the 2017–18 Super Four Provincial Tournament. The following month, he was also named as the captain for Kandy's squad for the 2018 Super Provincial One Day Tournament.

In August 2018, he was named as the captain of Kandy's sqaud the 2018 SLC T20 League.

Impressive start

Mathews began his international career in late 2008 with ambitions of becoming a genuine allrounder, but has since given primacy to his batting (to diminish his workload and avoid injuries), and effectively plays as a specialist batsman in the Test side. However, for the balance of the team, he still plays as a batting allrounder in the limited overs cricket. A more than useful strike rate of 84.06 has made him a damaging prospect in the final overs of the Sri Lankan innings.

He made his international debut in a One Day International against Zimbabwe in November 2008 and made his Test debut against Pakistan at Galle in July, 2009.

Test cricket

A