Hope Chamari Athapaththu plays for another four years at least: Sri Lanka coach Rumesh Rathnayake

Asian champions Sri Lanka had a very rough time in the ongoing T20 World Cup, losing all their three matches so far in the competition. Captain Chamari Athapaththu’s flop show of just 10 runs in three games is one of the big reasons behind their poor performance, as the 34-year-old has always been the point of difference for Sri Lanka. With her flopping, the team failed to get going and is now eliminated from the competition.

Addressing the media ahead of the final league game against New Zealand, Sri Lanka coach Rumesh Ratnayake noted that he isn’t sure if Chamari would continue for Sri Lanka. He expects him to play for at least four more years, but isn’t sure of what’s to come. He also mentioned that there was no room for excuses after their elimination and stated that they couldn’t live up to the expectations.

“Hard luck is not what we believe in. We have been playing poor cricket and that is not acceptable. And we have been talking about it, we try to come out of it, we have been trying various things in being fearless. Our skills failed us when we needed them the most,” Ratnayake was quoted as saying by Sportstar.

“I don’t know about Chamari’s ideas. I hope she’ll be there for another four years at least. She is still around 34 years old. The women can play till 39 or 40. She is very keen and fit to be there. That said, we need to decide who is coming in after that. If Chamari isn’t there, or Kavisha Dilhari (who was sitting beside him) isn’t there, who comes next? There’s an ODI World Cup to adapt to and plan for. I wish to move forward and work on fixing them,” he mentioned while talking about the Lankan skipper.

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Sri Lanka made tremendous progress under Chamari and Ratnayake, and the Asia Cup success is one of the biggest examples of the same. The team defeated India in the final and was expected to make a mark in the global tournament, if not qualify for the semis. However, the failure is likely to hurt the team, and Rathnayake hopes that it doesn’t hurt their progress.