On 9 January 2018, Mathews has been reappointed as the captain for Sri Lanka in One Day Internationals and Twenty20 Internationals for the second time less than six months after he resigned from the position. He was stepped down from captaincy at the end of Zimbabwe tour of Sri Lanka in 2017 after ODI loss. However, with many defeats in all formats in 2017, new coach Chandika Hathurusinghe and new selection committee handed over limited over captaincy for Mathews for the second time.