Sometimes, being the biggest predator of your pack can make you the biggest prey too. Ask Chamari Athapaththu. In an era of transition for Sri Lankan cricket, Athapaththu has sacrificed her bones to become the steel skeleton for the women’s game to grow around.
“I want to see my team in the semi-final of this World Cup. That’s my wish,” Athapaththu said ahead of the qualifiers for the ongoing T20 World Cup in the UAE (which they would win) earlier in the year.
Six months later, her team is staring at a rather anticlimactic finish to what’s been a fairytale 12-18 months for the side.
Six months and two World Cup group game losses later, Athapaththu fronted up to the side’s underwhelming showing and her own part in it.
“Fans probably had a lot of expectations that we will play in the semifinals this year. I think we don’t have time to do that. We have two matches and I want to tell fans not to lose hope,” she said ahead of the do-or-die encounter against India in Dubai.
Athapaththu spoke to the press for around 25 minutes - half of that in England and half in Sinhalese. Her desperation to manifest better fortunes for her team were bare in her native tongue. There was no masking, no talk of ‘process’, ‘assessing conditions.’ She doesn’t have time for any of that.
She detailed a conversation she had with herself in the room after the first two losses, particularly because she had, herself, failed with the bat. The skipper registered scores of 3(12 balls) against Australia and 6 (9 balls) against Pakistan in the opening fixture. She had a great night with the ball against Pakistan (3/18) but it meant nothing without the win.
“Our expectations before we came was that Dubai and Sharjah tracks would be batting tracks. Because I had that kind of experience when I was playing here before. But we can’t complain about the conditions as batters. We have to play our best cricket, and we have to adapt – that is the most important thing. So, I saw how Nat Sciver-Brunt played and even Laura (Wolvaardrt) and the other South African batters. I asked myself the same question. ‘Why can’t I play?,’ she said.
She then compared Sri Lanka’s batting brain fade to the kind of performances South Africa and New Zealand (vs India) had managed.
“If we take too much pressure on our shoulders, if we take too much information, it’s too hard to play cricket,” she exclaimed. “We have to play our fearless cricket. That’s the most important thing.”
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Remembering bravery
The run-up to the T20 World Cup was interesting for the Lankan captain. She led her side to a memorable maiden Asia Cup title. The side beat South Africa, New Zealand and England in bilateral T20I series, all for the first time in their cricketing history. Athapaththu led from the front, scoring a whopping 684 runs with a stunning average of 42.75 and at a strike rate of 130.53. That included two centuries and four fifties.
She was ably assisted by two young soldiers in Vishmi Gunaratne (467 runs this season) and Harshita Samarawickrama (564 runs, including that unbeaten 84* against India in the Asia Cup).
With the ball, Kavisha Dilhari has 22 wickets in 20 games. Inoshi Priyadharshani has 20 while Athapaththu herself has 19. Her senior pros – Sugandika Kumari and Udeshika Prabhodhani have been instrumental in key victories, particularly in the Asia Cup.
In the World Cup in the United Arab Emirates, while the bowling still had something to cheer about, the batting seems to have short circuited.
Athapaththu looks around her and sees the likes of Sophie Devine, Wolvaardt, the Australians (as per her list) find rhythm with the bat and it frustrates her.
“In the first game, I scored a boundary against Sadia Iqbal. I hit the ball, it was going so fast. So I felt, the wicket was so good. That was surprising because when Pakistan batted, the surface was a bit slow and low. My experience of that first ball affected me and I lost my wicket in the next over. I made that mistake. In the next game, I thought I’ll take my time but suddenly it was different.”
“We can’t blame anyone or the conditions. Other teams have the same things and challenges we have. If other teams and batters can do it, there’s no way we can’t.”
The Sri Lankan squad isn’t young, with an average age of about 30. Priyadarshini, Prabodani and Ranaweera are above the age of 37. Six more, including Athapaththu, are in their 30s. The skipper has therefore been on an overdrive in terms of pushing the youngsters to step in and gear up for a time when she and some of her colleagues may not be around.
“I don’t want to pressure the young players. It’s important for them to be relaxed before important games. I have shared my experience as I have been in these situations. We are not a team that won the world championship. We are not a team that has come to the finals. I’ve been in these similar situations. (The difference is) now the expectations are very high.I am taking the pressure as much as I can.”
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Perennial firefighting
Athapaththu is much like a sponge bursting at the seams, waiting to rain down on her opponent and it is in these situations that the world has seen the best of her.
That Asia Cup final against India is the latest in a long list of rescue acts Athapaththu has staged for her nation. With a steep 165 to chase down against a quality bowling side, she made a fighting 61 (43b) with 72 still needed from the last eight overs.
This is where her constant encouragement and pushing her ‘kids’ (as she calls them) came in handy. Harshita Samarawickrama, potentially the one to succeed her as Sri Lanka captain, was thrown into the fire and got out of the death unscathed with a huge roar and a shiny trophy to boot.
“That Asia Cup win…we beat the best team in the world. They have so much experience, and play a lot of franchise cricket. Compared to India, we don’t have those players and still we’ve played good cricket as a team. As a captain, I am so proud of my girls,” she had said then.
“For now, I’m always looking after the young girls. I’ve built a young team. I want to see these young girls in the World Cup one day.”
In the crucial league game against India in the UAE, it was the Sri Lankan skipper who swung into action, first running out Smriti Mandhana and then getting Shafali Verma off consecutive deliveries. It was the lone bright spot in a dull bowling display where the players retreated into their shell when their backs were to the wall.
With India cruising to 173 – the highest team total in the tournament so far – Sri Lanka needed Athapaththu to glue her feet in the middle and see the chase through.
However, even the best of sponges wear out. After years and years of carrying Sri Lanka on her shoulders, India broke her. She first saw her opening partner Gunaratne fall for a first ball duck. Athapaththu soon edged Shreyanka Patil to Deepti Sharma at slips.
At the Asia Cup a few months ago, with her contribution registered, Athapaththu paced about like an anxious mother waiting to see if her child had cleared their class 10 boards. With a solitary run to her name off three balls in a crucial make-or-break fixture, this will be a true test of faith for Athapaththu. However, this time her side ended up on the losing side and crashed out of the World Cup.
FILE PHOTO: Chamari Athapaththu of Sri Lanka with the trophy after the ACC Women’s T20 Asia Cup 2024 Final. | Photo Credit: Asian Cricket Council
A towering personality
Mention ‘Chamari’ in the press box and the Sri Lankan reporters around will tell you tales of how Athapaththu was waging a battle of relevance for the women’s game in that nation long before it became the norm to do so.
She was one of the loudest voices calling for game time for Sri Lanka during the pandemic when the women’s side went more than 500 days without an international fixture.
Her growing stature in international cricket – backed by her popularity in franchise tournaments and her game-changing performances in the international arena – made the Sri Lankan board sit up and take notice.
That the women’s team’s captain now had brand deals and was there to flag off the Lankan Premier League – hailed as the pride of Sri Lankan cricket – tells you all you need to know about how Athapaththu has smashed the glass ceiling in the island nation.
In a team of senior pros, Athapaththu has been the leader. She has banded together a coy and unconfident side – often stuttering to speak the tongue of the international game (literally and otherwise) – and taught them to believe. Sit with her for a chat and she could convince you that you can change the world.
That lure of leadership and a strong umbilical cord holding her close to this team have brought her back from a couple of retirement considerations. For the time being, we know Athapaththu will be the front and centre of this team at least till the 2025 ODI World Cup in India.
For a long time, Athapaththu has been the one to pick up her teammates when they are down in the dumps. After such an inspiring run-up, to go out of contention without much of a fight will hurt and for a while. She will need her teammates and her loyalists to wrap up her in a hug and give her the strength to keep going.
Cricket isn’t done with Chamari Athapaththu and, for the sake of Sri Lanka and the women’s game at large, one will hope she isn’t either.
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