Athapaththu praises perfect team performance
Chamari Athapaththu hailed the power of youth and the value of experience as Sri Lanka stunned hosts South Africa at the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup.
Athapaththu has long been her side’s star player, owning seven of the top eight scores by Sri Lankan batters at the tournament.
She reached new heights on opening night at Newlands, smacking a superb 68 from 50 balls, the highest-ever score by a Sri Lankan batter at the World Cup.
But she knew that in order to beat the Proteas for the first time in six years, she couldn’t do it all on her own.
A record-breaking second-wicket stand of 86 with 17-year-old Vishmi Gunaratne laid the groundwork for a winning total of 129.
Spin trio Sugandika Kumari, Oshadi Ranasinghe and Inoka Ranaweera took nine wickets in 12 overs between them to script a historic victory.
Player of the Match Athapaththu said: “I always try my best to lead from the front. I want to be a role model for the whole team.
“But this is not an individual performance, it all depends on the team performance and the bowling attack. They all did very well today.
“Vishmi is the young superstar of our team. Her attitude is exactly what I want to see and she handled the fast bowlers very well. She has a very bright future.
“We have a good culture in the team, a lot of youngsters and the senior players share knowledge with them.
“We all know South Africa are one of the best teams in the world and they are playing in their home conditions. But we played good cricket today and finally, we won.”
Sri Lanka had not played a T20 international in five months coming into this pressure-cooker.
They have never progressed past the first round of the T20 World Cup in seven campaigns – Athapaththu has featured in all of them – and she is now aiming higher with Bangladesh up next.