Chamari Athapaththu

Chamari Athapaththu is a true trailblazer for women's cricket in Sri Lanka. She made her international debut as a 19-year-old in the T20 World Cup 2009. The first glimpses of her attacking batting in internationals came to the fore in the World Cup Qualifier 2011, where her 67-ball 60 while opening the batting helped Sri Lanka defeat South Africa to finish third in the competition. The following year, she was named the best batter in women's cricket at the Sri Lanka Cricket awards.

Athapaththu got her first taste of captaincy of Sri Lanka in 2014, after Shashikala Siriwardene resigned following administrative hassles. However, it was not until 2018 in T20Is and 2019 in ODIs that she became the full-time captain across formats. She has led Sri Lanka in the T20 World Cups in 2018, 2020 and 2023, but is yet to captain them in an ODI World Cup, after Sri Lanka missed the cut in 2022.

Under her captaincy, Sri Lanka registered their first T20I series win over South Africa and England, and a maiden ODI series win against New Zealand. Sri Lanka also beat South Africa at a T20 World Cup match for the first time under her leadership, with Athapaththu starring with a 50-ball 68.

When Athapaththu hit 111 versus Ireland in an ODI in 2011, she became the first woman from Sri Lanka to hit a century in international cricket. She has nine ODI centuries to date (July 2024), with none of her compatriots scoring a single one. Her unbeaten 178 at the ODI World Cup in 2017 against Australia remains the highest individual score by a Sri Lankan in the competition. She was named the Player of the Match for the stellar knock even though it came in a losing cause. She also hit her first T20I hundred in 2019 against Australia at the North Sydney Oval, and followed it with another in May 2024 in the final of the T20 World Cup Qualifier against Scotland in Abu Dhabi. At 34 years and 88 days, she was the oldest woman to hit a T20I century.

In April 2024, Athapaththu blazed away to 195 not out, helping Sri Lanka chase down a target of 302 against South Africa. It was the highest successful chase in women's ODIs and, following that series which was shared 1-1, Athapaththu became the first Sri Lanka woman to top the ICC rankings for ODI batters.

Athapaththu was the first woman from her country to play franchise cricket when she signed up with Yorkshire Diamonds in the now-defunct Kia Super League. That also paved the way for her entry into the WBBL, signing up with Melbourne Renegades in 2016-17. She has since played for Perth Scorchers and Sydney Thunder in the WBBL. Her latest exploits in the competition came in 2023-24 as a replacement player when she piled up 511 runs at a strike rate close to 130, and picked up nine wickets at an economy of 6.79, all of which led to her being named the Player of the Tournament. In 2024, she was signed up by UP Warriorz for the WPL and by Oval Invincibles for the Hundred.

S Sudarshanan