Colombo, Sept 20 (FN Agency) Skipper Chamari Athapaththu believes Sri Lanka will arrive at the Women’s T20 World Cup ‘in a different zone’ from the previous edition of the event.In the last year, Sri Lanka’s side has gained in stature with impressive T20 World Cup Qualifierand Asia Cup victories.”This time, we arrive in a different zone. Having beaten several top teams during the last 15-month period and winning the T20 Asia Cup, our team has come a long way in T20 cricket,” said Athapaththu. Sri Lanka had an unbeaten run in the Asia Cup in July where they overcame India, Pakistan and Bangladesh to lift the title. The opening batter believes that all their hard work can come to fruitionin the upcoming event, leaving them with a golden opportunity to make their mark on the worldstage after the triumph in Asia, an ICC report said. “The upcoming World Cup is going to be crucial for us to make our mark on the world stage,” Athapaththu said. “For Sri Lanka and our team, it is a huge platform. We have taken part in many World Cups in the past, and each one is a golden opportunity for us,” she said. “The Asia Cup was the best achievement within women’s cricket for Sri Lanka so far.
We remained unbeaten throughout the tournament, defeating Bangladesh in the first round, Pakistan in the semis and India in the final,” Athapaththu said. Athapaththu shared her thoughts on their squad for the T20 World Cup that boasts of experience and youth in equal measure. “We have Harshitha (Samarawickrama), Vishmi (Gunaratne), and Kavisha (Dilhari), the youngsters, who can win games for us, while on the experienced side we have players like Nilakshi (de Silva) and (Anuksha) Sanjeewani, while on the bowling side, we have Inoshi (Priyadharshani), who is making waves in the rankings along with a few others,” she added.In the 2023 Women’s T20 World Cup, Sri Lanka started strongly, beating South Africa (by three runs) and Bangladesh (by seven wickets). Massive defeats against Australia (by 10 wickets) and New Zealand (by 102 runs), however, pushed Sri Lanka to finish fourth in their group.This time around, they are placed in Group A alongside Australia, India, Pakistan and New Zealand.