‘Opportunities are really good to showcase our talent’ - Chamari Athapaththu reflects on Sri Lanka’s preparation for Women’s T20 World Cup

Sri Lanka women’s skipper Chamari Athapaththu recently came forward and talked about how her current stint with Barbados Royals in the ongoing WCPL is going to help her a lot in preparing for the Women’s T20 World Cup, starting on October 3, in the UAE.

She opined that the entire team’s preparation was really good, and they have played a few bilateral series. Besides, her stint in the WCPL will only prepare her even further to take on the world’s top sides in the World Cup. Interestingly, Chamari also pointed out about adjusting to different playing conditions away from home which will aid the team when under pressure in the shortest format.

“As a team and players, our preparation is really good. We played a few bilateral series and Women’s Asia Cup as well before I came here. So these opportunities are really good to showcase our talent and how we can manage ourselves, as well as adjust to the different conditions and how to manage pressure in the middle in T20 format,” Chamari was quoted as saying by News18. 

“These are the positive things I have learnt from CPL. This is really good opportunity for me because before Women’s T20 World Cup comes next month. I hope I can do my best for Barbados Royals and continue this performance in T20 World Cup as well,” she added further.

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We played really good cricket around the world by beating top teams: Athapaththu

Furthermore, the Sri Lanka skipper reflected on how her side has gone on to beat many big teams in world cricket. The side has been in good form in mid-2023, winning bilateral series in both white-ball formats against Bangladesh, T20I series against England and South Africa, and many other games. It is worthy to mention that the Chamari Athapaththu-led Sri Lanka also defeated India women in the final of the Women’s Asia Cup.

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“In last 12 months, we played really good cricket around the world by beating top teams, so we are in good confidence and form. We continued with our best performance and confidence in Asia Cup, and finally, lifted the trophy for the very first time. We beat the world’s best team – India has a lot of good players, experience, and play a lot of franchise leagues,” she concluded.