By Srian Obeyesrkere
Both Sri Lanka, led by the explosive batter Chamari Athapaththu, and host country India face off in the curtain raiser of the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup at Bengalaru tomorrow September 30 with the one& common goal of laying hands on the elusive trophy. A no mean task for the two sub continent nations given defending champions Australia’s strong leader insulation with formidable Englandt and New Zealand and a fairly strong South Africa, Pakistan and Bangladesh in the big stakes race.
The reality challenge- facing Sri Lanka is arduous for a brimming youthful team strung together in a concentrated grassroots drive to shedding old brooms for the right mix to overcoming a past history of lack of potential talent.
India, for their part, find themselves with their best chance of reaching the cup summit led by the experienced Harmanpreet Kaur while their trump card is the prodiguos opener Smriti Mandhana and Jemimah Rodriguez who lead their batting nucleus . Mandhana’s recent form driven by fastest ODI century by an Indian against Australia earlier this September breaking Virat Kohli’s record, has raised her stocks in raising India’s cup hoped as never before. India came very close to Australia’s 400 plus score losing by a 30 odd margin.
Certainly, Sri Lanka will need to match India shot for shot in a tough call to prevail against India in their own comfort home zone.
From a Sri Lankan⁶ perspective, the side hasg progressgively found its feet in the internationalf arena, thanks to their explosive batting all-rounder skipper 35 year old Athapaththu who has in a 19-year long career created a turnaround by- leading from the front by some telling knocks including a famous unbeaten world cup century 178 against Australia in their own backyard to some recent successes stunning England, New Zealand and South Africa by a side that has found a new spring in itsh step driven by recent discoveries, the most talked of among them being left-hand batter Harshitha Madavi Samarawickrama who has been a gem of a find.
Under Athapaththu Sri Lanka has moved on with recent successes stunning England, New Zealand and South Africa by a side that has found a new spring in its step driven by recent discoveries, the most talked of among them being left-hand batter Harshitha Madavi Samarawickrama who has contributed towards that success.
In April 2024, Athapaththu blazed away to 195 not out, helping Sri Lanka chase down a target of 302 against South Africa. It was the highest successful chase in women’s ODIs and, following that series which was shared 1-1, Athapaththu became the first Sri Lanka woman to top the ICC rankings for ODI batters.
When Athapaththu hith 111 versus Ireland in an ODI in 2011, she became the first woman from Sri Lanka to hit a century in international cricket. She has nineh ODI centuries to date (July 2024), with none of her compatriots scoring a single one.
In that backdrop, how Sri Lanka bucks the big guns will be of interest
