Top Five Sri Lanka Players to Watch Out For: Sri Lanka vs India 2018

 

Chamari Athapaththu

The mere mention of her name would send shivers running down the spine of any bowler and their fear of her is not without reason. After all, who can forget her tantalizing knock of 178* against Australia in the Women’s World Cup? Athapaththu has the ability to hit the ball long and hard to take the game away from the opposition to swing it in her teams' favour.

Also a handy off-spinner, she will look to gain some form in the series against India, after a quiet Kia Super League campaign for the Yorkshire Diamonds, ahead of the Women’s Twenty-20 World Cup. As captain, she will also look forward to leading her team to victory following a difficult series against Pakistan.

 

Shashikala Siriwardene:

One of the few positives Sri Lanka could take from their heavy defeats against Pakistan on home soil, where they were white-washed in the ODI series and lost the Twenty-20 series 2-1, was the performance of Siriwardene. She was the leading wicket-taker in the 3-match ODI series with 4 wickets against Pakistan and scored 44 in the first Twenty-20 against them. Her score helped her team take the match to the final ball, where Sri Lanka suffered defeat in a thrilling match. However, in the following match, she a took 4-for to play a big hand in her team's only win of the series.

 

Anushka Sanjeewani:

Sanjeewani is a young star on the rise. Aged 24 and with only 15 Twenty-20 matches under her belt, her selection in the ‘Top Five Players to Watch’ might surprise a few. However, her score of 61 against Pakistan in 58 balls in Sri Lanka’s close defeat shows the potential she has. More exposure to games on the highest level will help her grow and possibly become one of Sri Lanka’s key batters soon.

 

Inoka Ranaweera:

A wily left-arm orthodox bowler, with 55 wickets in 45 matches at an average of 28.18, Ranaweera has the ability to take wickets at key moments of the game to turn the game on its’ head. On her day, Ranaweera can cause a collapse in the batting order, as her best figures of 4-53 show.

 

Dilani Manodara:

Having debuted for Sri Lanka back in 2006, Manodara is vastly experienced in the international circuit with a combined number of 146 caps to her name. This experience of hers’ will help her keep a cool head in pressure situations and allow her to respond appropriately, mostly while she is batting, to help guide her team to victory.