Sri Lanka's Wonder woman Chamari Athapaththu aspires to play WBBL

Sri Lanka women have had a disappointing run in the ongoing ICC Women’s World Cup till now. However, on the personal front, one of their players has had a dream knock coming her way. Chamari Athapaththu slammed a brilliant 178 off just 143 balls during the group encounter against Australia Women recently. Needless to say, the way she thrashed the opposition bowlers spoke volumes about her prowess with her bat.

This was not the first time she hit an ODI ton. However, the young lady recently quoted it as the best knock she has ever played. The solitary reason this was the quality bowling lineup against which she scored runs at will. She was unfortunate to have ended on the losing side after Meg Lanning from Australia slammed 152 in the same game to guide her team to an 8 wickets win.

Later, Chamari Athapaththu had mentioned that the knock was a combination of Kumar Sangakkara and Sanath Jayasuriya.”I like (Kumar) Sangakkara and (Sanath) Jayasuriya. I like to play like Jayasuriya. Today I started like Sanga and ended like Sanath,” said Chamari Athapaththu.

On WBBL

Apart from the international commitments, the other big tournament that lies in the women’s cricket calendar is the Women’s Big Bash League. When asked if she would like to be a part of it, she expressed in affirmation. She noted that she would love to play for Sydney Thunder, if given an opportunity.

“I would really like to play the Big Bash and the England T20 league. Hopefully, if they request me, definitely I would play in the WBBL. I like Sydney Thunder,” she quoted as per the quotes in cricket.com.au.

Lanning’s response

Not sure about the Thunder, but Melbourne Stars skipper Meg Lanning remarked that she would love to have Chamari in her team if she continues to bat the same way. “If she’s going to bat like that every time, I’d happily have her. Once she gets going she’s very hard to stop and I don’t think any boundary is big enough for her. So maybe going forward we can chat about things,” Meg Lanning quipped.