Athapaththu relives final moments of game against Bangladesh

Sri Lanka Captain Chamari Athapaththu captures a wicket in the final over

• “A lot of credit for our win should go to the Head Coach for the way he handled the team in the dressing room”

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq 

It was not the perfect game for either of the sides, but Sri Lanka held their nerve better than Bangladesh to pull off a seven-run win at the Dr. D.Y. Patil Sports Academy, Navi Mumbai on Monday to register their first win in the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup.

Till the final two overs the momentum was entirely on Bangladesh’s side with their Captain Nigar Sultana Joty leading the way with a half-century (77 off 98 balls, 6 fours). With Bangladesh requiring 9 runs off the final over she was the key, but unfortunately for them she was not on strike.

“Actually, I don’t like to lie, when we started the 49th over, we had a winning chance of only 25%,” said Sri Lanka Captain Chamari Athapaththu rewinding the final moments of the game. “But with the over bowled by Sugandika (Kumari) and the pressure she created, the game shifted to our side. We had to defend 9 runs in the final over and I knew then we had a chance. There was a decision to be made whether it was Udeshika (Prabodhani) or I would bowl the final over. At that time Udeshika came and told me, “Chamari, you take the last over as you seem to be in the right mood for it better than me”. She is the most senior player in the team and when she said that I gained a lot of confidence to bowl the final over.”

And what a final over Athapaththu bowled. She took four wickets conceding just one run to deny Bangladesh a win which they had within their grasp.

“I knew the Bangladeshi batters liked to play the sweep shots, slog shots, and cut shots and they needed the width to play them. I tried to bowl full and straight, no width, attack the stumps and sometimes bowl the yorker. I knew of the Bangladesh players only Joty plays straight, and the others try to play across the line. That’s why I attacked the stumps all the time and it worked successfully for me. The senior players came and said that Joty was a very strong player in the long-off region. So I pushed the long-off back and bowled at her. We were successful in getting her wicket. If she was there, we couldn’t have won the match.”

Athapaththu said that she was disappointed with the batting of her team who at one time looked like they would score 270-280, but were dismissed for 202 well inside their quota of 50 overs.

“First of all, I have to tell you the way we batted, I was not happy. We had a good start, but we didn’t continue that run. As a captain, I was not happy the way we played today. We are a pretty good team, and we didn’t play to our potential. After we had a good start in batting, we collapsed and we lost four wickets and we finished very badly in the first innings. It’s too hard to make a team get into a good mindset after that. But coach Rumesh Ratnayake came to the dressing room and said, “Okay, the first half is finished. You have to look forward. Execute the right plans at the right time, play your game and be positive. These are the things we talk about in the dressing room. We finally won. It is really good for us.”

“Actually, I have to say that I wasn’t in a positive frame of mind. I was a little upset. Rumesh Ratnayake has played a lot of cricket and has done a lot of coaching. It is his skill as a coach that has taken Sri Lankan women’s cricket this far. We have made good progress in the past two years. The majority of people don’t know where Sri Lankan women’s cricket was about four to five years back. Our successes in the past two years a lot of credit should go to the coach. He is a very cool person and he knows how to handle the team.”

“I saw how he spoke to the team after we were dismissed for 202 and how he motivated them when everyone was down mentally. That’s the biggest thing that a coach should have. Other than teaching the skills to the players, I think if he can speak to the mind of the players and motivate them that is what is expected from a coach. A lot of credit for our win today should go to him for the way he handled the team in the dressing room.”

Athapaththu praised the innings of Hasini Perera who scored her maiden WODI fifty (85 off 99 balls) and spoke about her own personal milestone of achieving 4000 runs in WODIs.

“The way Hasini played was amazing to watch. She is one of our senior players. It was a really good innings. I hope she will continue with her performance in the next game. She is still 29 years old and she can play another 5-6 years for Sri Lanka. I always back her and trust her. She is a good team player. That’s why she missed a lot of fifties. As captain, I know I’ve passed 4,000 runs. It’s a big milestone for me. But at the end of the day, my goal is we have never made it to the semi-finals of any World Cup. That’s what I want to see before I retire. This milestone is good for me. I hope I can play my best cricket till I retire, hopefully”

The win against Bangladesh was Sri Lanka’s first in the tournament following two defeats and two rained off matches.

“We played only one game in India before this game and four games in Sri Lanka, two of which were washed out and the other two we lost. It’s hard as a team, but the thing is we can’t control the weather. I said to my team, control what we can control. As a professional team, we can’t use that as an excuse. There’s one more game left, we’ll try to play our best game and beat Pakistan and finish on a high.”