Chamari Athapaththu, a jewel in the crown of Sri Lanka grabbing number one spot in one-day batting. -BY TREVINE RODRIGO IN MELBOURNE. (eLanka Sports Editor)
Reward for effort is an age old adage that draws parallels with Sri Lanka’s brilliant cricketing all-rounder Chamari Athapaththu who has sky-rocketed to number one batter in the world in the one-day format.
She’s been there before but has been overrun by stars from other nations. But the fierce competitive spirit has her back on top of the world and challenging her followers, “catch me if you can”.
The 34 year old left handed batting sensation who smacked a world record unbeaten 195 in a winning run chase against South Africa recently, is in the twilight of her career.
But she has shelved plans to walk away from the game until she is satisfied that her beloved country continues on their recent upward trend in the world game.
All perceptions about her age, form decline, and lack of appeal by franchises around the world has quickly dissipated and there is now a clamour instead to ink her signing.
From the perceived scrapheap to stardom has done nothing to change the demeanour of this honest, hard-working cricketer who has found a new found admiration among her peers and competitors alike apart for their endearing love for her bubbling qualities on and off the cricket field.
Chamari Athapaththu has etched her name as the best woman cricketer in Sri Lanka by a country mile drawing parallels with former men’s spinning sensation Mutthiah Muralitharan.
She has scored centuries against most countries in the world, mainly, two important three figure efforts against Australia.
Her explosive innings against South Africa propelled her to top spot past England’s Nat Sciver- Brunt, Beth Mooney from Australia and Indian Smirti Mandhana.
South African Laura Wolvaart leap-frogged to third spot with her vain but heroic 184 off 147 balls which could not match Athapaththu’s effort.
Athapaththu’s feat also make her the second highest scorer in a winning run chase ever in both the men’s and women’s game behind Glenn Maxwell’s unforgettable 201 not out against Afganistan in the World Cup last year.
Her exploits have now been acknowledged worldwide.
