Chamari Athapaththu returns to Melbourne Renegades replacing injured Harmanpreet

Sri Lanka women's captain Chamari Athapaththu will return to Melbourne Renegades as a replacement player for the remainder of the WBBL following the withdrawal of India captain Harmanpreet Kaur.

The Renegades lost last year's player of the tournament due to a back injury following India's Asia Cup triumph.

Renegades had signed English batter Eve Jones as a short-term replacement but have added Athapaththu as an experienced batting option. Sri Lanka's captain returns for her third season at Renegades having first played for the club in WBBL 03. She was part of Perth Scorchers' title-winning squad last season playing 10 games and scoring 182 runs at 30.33 before heading away for international duty which saw her miss out on the Scorchers' triumphant final.

Athapaththu is set to join Renegades after their next match against Adelaide Strikers. Renegades general manager James Rosengarten said Athapaththu was an obvious choice after losing Harmanpreet.

"We needed to add another aggressive player to our batting line-up in Harmanpreet's absence and Chamari is a perfect fit," Rosengarten said. "She brings a wealth of experience at international level and is a player capable of taking the game away from the opposition quickly.

"We look forward to her joining us and playing her first game in Ballarat next weekend, which will be our first match in Victoria in more than 1000 days."