Women’s T20 World Cup: Sri Lanka coach Ratnayake hopes Chamari plays for four more years

Sri Lanka, with three losses in three games, will not advance from the group stage, but it is in the picture given that Group A has been fairly tight, with multiple teams vying for that second knockout spot.

Since Shashikala Siriwardene called time on her career in the Lankan blue and gold, Chamari Athapaththu has almost single-handedly held this team through thick and thin. | Photo Credit: AP

The press corps waited for a member of the Sri Lankan dressing room to address the room about its morale and campaign-killing loss against India in the Women’s T20 World Cup. There was clear consensus.

“We hope Chamari (Athapaththu) isn’t coming.”

Could her fingers itch to slam the retirement button again? Would she cry? No one there was thinking about their headline.

“We hope it’s not Chamari.”

Rumesh Ratnayake and Kavisha Dilhari emerged through the doors. A few courteous smiles were exchanged but the mood was sombre.

The team underperformed with bat and ball in a crucial fixture that would have allowed it the luxury of mathematic survival.

“Hard luck is not what we believe in,” Ratnayake bemoaned.

“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,” he added.

When Athapaththu was dismissed, it looked like she would burst into tears as she walked off the green. The disappointment goes beyond just the game in question for the Sri Lankan skipper. Since Shashikala Siriwardene called time on her career in the Lankan blue and gold, Athapaththu has almost single-handedly held this team through thick and thin.

The possibility of the game breaking her will to go was the elephant in the room. More so after she was seen walking off after her dismissal, nearly in tears.

“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,” Ratnayake said.

“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 added.

Safeguarding resurrection

Ratnayake revealed that after the Asia Cup triumph, the board put its full faith in him to turn the fortunes of the side around in his own way. And it helped. From individual performances improving drastically over his first year and the team banding together to put in group performances to win games, Sri Lanka earned the right to believe.

Ratnayake hopes this outcome and a group stage exit doesn’t undo the progress managed thus far.

“We don’t give up. It’s a lot which never gives up so that’s a very heartening and a very satisfying thing to see as a coach. As much as I’ve created an environment, I am quite privileged and honoured to be in this because they are a super lot. I know we will come through this sooner than later,” he said.

Sri Lanka, with three losses in three games, will not advance, but it is in the picture given that Group A has been a fairly tight group, with multiple teams vying for that second knockout spot. While playing party pooper might not have been what the side came here to do, it will hope to go out on a high.

“We came here to win the World Cup. We didn’t come here to participate. We didn’t come here to say, ‘We’ll win two matches and go.’ We have to salvage ourselves in winning that next match. That would be our prime objective. That said, we have to maybe release ourselves in our minds and bodies. The processes are the same but we have not done them well. So, we have to stitch it up or do whatever mending is required and get it right,” said Ratnayake.

Work in progress

One key element will be the side’s catching. Sri Lanka’s ground fielding was true to form and consistent, but the dropped catches here and there denied them chances to take control of the game’s narrative.

“We need to find where to find more confidence if they can’t do well with this level of confidence. We are giving them a lot of encouragement but if they (the players) still get scared, we need to find out why and check what we have to bring there,” Ratnayake asserted.

He also hopes better judgment prevails with the bat and cites Vishmi Gunaratne’s dismissal as an example. Chasing a steep 173 to win, the opener lasted only for two balls, the first of which she nearly sent a ball sliding into the stumps straight to Smriti Mandhana at mid-on. She was dismissed off the very next ball as she swung the bat, hoping to go big, only to produce a massive top edge which went safely into a diving Radha Yadav’s hands near backward point.

“Vishmi was given a chance with that first ball but she did the same thing off the next ball. We need to avoid doing such things. In English, we call it maturity and we need to make mature decisions consistently. That’s what makes good teams like India, like Australia. There are no excuses, we didn’t bowl well, we didn’t field well, we didn’t bat well,” Ratnayake said.