A women’s cricket legend in the making
Chamari Atapattu has become the most reliable and dominant women’s cricketer Sri Lanka has ever produced, perhaps due to many facts. Her hero in cricket, as any cricket lover in Sri Lanka and across the globe would endorse, is Sanath Jayasuriya and she shares the last name of one of Sri Lanka’s most elegant and dependable batsman, Marvan Atapattu.
Both Jayasuriya and Atapattu went on to lead the Sri Lanka cricket team with their usual and unique contribution as reliable batsmen, and now so does Chamari Atapattu. She is a women’s cricketer who possesses the skills and attitude of both these two legendary players combined, besides her ability as skipper.
Atapattu celebrated her birthday on February 9, but that milestone in her life of reaching the 30s may have been overshadowed by the fact of gearing up to lead the Sri Lanka Women’s team for the ICC Women’s Twenty20 World Cup 2020 in Australia.
The only women’s cricketer to score a Women’s World Cup century and the only player to appear in other major leagues offshore, Atapattu has been a cricketer the country is depending on. Hailing from Kurunegala, where ace spinner Rangana Herath too comes from, Atapattu has been the only player from the Sri Lanka women’s cricket team to earn the spotlight, and her dependability has made her a brand name.
Since becoming the talk of the town after her whirlwind 178 not out off just 143 deliveries at the 2017 World Cup against Australia at Bristol, Atapattu has been treated as the most dependable women’s cricketer Sri Lanka has ever produced. Even after three years since 2017, she continues to justify her skills and attitude, as a professional cricketer, while living her dream.
“Play positive, freely and with courage, that is the message I give my team, and that’s how I have built my image as a striking women’s cricketer. I always think that if you play with that positive attitude, you can always reach the highest level as a cricketer,” were Atapattu’s words before leaving to Australia.
And how Atapattu has managed to stick to her guns even today, is true testimony of her attitude towards the sport. In the ongoing ICC Women’s Twenty20 World Cup, Sri Lanka lost the two group games, but not without a fight.
Sri Lanka may have lost to New Zealand and Australia, but not before giving the opponents a run. In both games, Atapattu was the top scorer for Sri Lanka – scoring 41 off 30 deliveries inclusive of five fours and two sixes. Sri Lanka reached 127-7 in 20 overs while New Zealand made 131-3 with two overs to spare as Atapattu claimed a wicket.
Against Australia, Sri Lanka nearly scraped through to a win as Atapattu again became the top contributor for the losers with a 38-ball 50, which included seven fours and two sixes. The Australian lasses were made to toil for runs as they managed to reach the winning target in the final over as Atapattu captured a wicket.
Be it any situation, Atapattu has become the saviour and trendsetter for Sri Lanka. Her coach, Harsha de Silva said in an email interview that others in the team can take Atapattu as a role model.
“I see Chamari’s passion for the game and attitude as key factors to her success. She has benefited by being exposed to compete against strong opposition regularly at overseas leagues,” stated de Silva.
Atapattu holds many records in Women’s Cricket, and is probably the only in history of Sri Lanka to have those accolades in front of her name. Known as an aggressive top order batsman and a right-arm medium pace bowler, Atapattu has four centuries in Women’s ODI cricket, the only four to date by any Sri Lankan women cricketer.
From a knock of 111 off 110 balls with 17 fours and a six against Ireland in April, 2011 at the P. Sara Oval, to her matured 106 off 151 deliveries with 11 boundaries against South Africa at SSC in October, 2014, and to her most iconic knock, which opened her the doors to the global platform – an unbeaten, enterprising and entertaining knock of 178 off 143, which included 22 fours and six sixes against mighty Australia in June, 2017 at Bristol, England in a ICC Women’s World Cup game.
Her last century listed at 200 among a total of 212, against India at Katunayake in September, 2018, was a match winning 115 off 133 balls with 13 fours and four sixes. Atapattu has the highest ODI average for a women’s cricketer from Sri Lanka and she is also the third in the world to be dismissed for 99 in a WODI.
Atapattu is also the highest run-scorer in women’s cricket for Sri Lanka in WODI and T20. She is the only Sri Lankan women’s batsman to score over 1,000 runs in T20 Internationals. For a women’s player who has played all around the world, and the only Sri Lankan to play in global leagues, with Melbourne Renegades as second home, next to her local side – the Kurunegala Youth Cricket Club – Atapattu seeks more adventure.
“Ever since my uncle introduced me to cricket at a very young age, I’ve developed more passion for the game day by day. It keeps growing. I have always followed the style of my hero Sanath Jayasuriya, and I always imagined to play his role in the national women’s team,” stated Atapattu explaining of her passion.
Sri Lanka will continue to depend heavily on Atapattu’s bat in their two remainders of the ICC Women’s T20 WC games against India and Bangladesh. As one of the seniors of the side, which includes more youngsters, Atapattu has spearheaded Sri Lanka to perform well.
Against New Zealand while Atapattu was batting in the middle, Sri Lanka were 87-2 in 11.5 overs, and after her departure they lost five wickets and just scored 40 runs in the remaining overs. When Atapattu departed in the game against Australia, Sri Lanka were 91-3 in 13.6 overs and from there they lost three more wickets and scored just 31 runs.
Coach de Silva further explained that had other players too, had the exposure as Atapattu and followed her attitude in a game, the Sri Lanka women’s cricket team could become one of the strongest sides in the world.
“I also must mention her strong work ethic. She has a naturally strong physique as a female athlete. I have not seeing many in the women’s game who can hit a cricket ball as hard as Chamari. She has a range of scoring shots and it’s very difficult to contain a batter of her nature. Within the next two years, this team has the ability to reach the world’s best, and Chamari is one of the greatest assets in that venture,” noted de Silva.