The First Chamari Athapaththu

When they say it can’t be done, be the first to do it.

That is something Chamari Athapaththu lives by. She uses it as her Whatsapp quote. And in cricket, that is what she does.

Over the past 15 years, she’s been the first to achieve many things for Sri Lanka. In 2010, just seven ODIs into her international career, she became the first Sri Lankan woman to make a century in a limited-overs game. Between then and August 2024, she was Sri Lanka’s ONLY centurion in white-ball cricket. Chamari crossed hundred 11 times in that same period, against nine different opponents.

Chamari Athapaththu was not the best batter in Sri Lanka, she was their batting. 

While that first century was a big milestone, the most important knock of her career came seven years later at the 2017 Women’s ODI World Cup in England. Sri Lanka were up against the perennial favourites Australia. On paper, it was supposed to be a non-contest. The scoreboard says Australia won, but not before Chamari took apart their bowling attack piece by piece. She dismantled them to such a degree that they never really fully recovered, leaving them open to a similar onslaught from Harmanpreet Kaur in the semifinals. That time, they did lose.

Chamari proved the ancient proverb correct: if it bleeds, we can kill it. 

Chamari’s 178 in that game changed her life. To hit the third-highest score in ODI cricket was something, but to do it against one of the most dominant teams in the game meant that suddenly, all eyes were on her. That same year, she became the first Sri Lankan woman to play in a franchise league when she signed for the Yorkshire Diamonds in the now defunct Kia Super League. Invitations to play at the WBBL and the Women’s T20 Challenge quickly followed. With the men’s team struggling, having one of the best players in the world as a woman helped grow the game in Sri Lanka, and her brand. 

Between that game against Australia and Sri Lanka’s last game of the 2020 T20 World Cup, Athapaththu really took to the Aussies, who remained—barring that semi-final exit in the World Cup—the most dominant side the sport had seen. A hundred each in the ODI and T20I formats during Sri Lanka’s first tour of Australia in 2019 showed she was obviously the real deal. 

Chamari had always been a dangerous batter, and she had long been top of the scouting report. But now she was beginning to find consistency and even more power. The Australian hundreds just elevated her further. 

The pandemic could not have come at a worse time for Chamari. But you can’t blame COVID-19 for the inadequacies of the Sri Lankan board. 687 days, that’s how long Chamari and the Sri Lankan team went without international cricket. From March 2020 to January 2022, the women played one domestic tournament. It was like Sri Lanka Cricket forgot they even had a women’s program. It hurt the team’s progress but it also meant that Chamari lost nearly two years of her peak. Beyond missing internationals, it also meant she didn't play much franchise cricket as people forgot about her. She had only just become a pro, and was missing out on peak earnings.

It was during this time that she first considered retirement. Having fought so hard to get to where she was, she was helpless in the face of bad administration. While the game grew globally, her career stalled. It took a call from Lasith Malinga, a long-time confidante, to convince her to keep playing international cricket.

The return to the international game for Sri Lanka happened in January 2022. Chamari has been batting to make up for all her lost runs. In the two years preceding the 2024 T20 World Cup, she’s been on a tear—making six hundreds against five opponents across formats. Half of her career hundreds have come within two years.

In some ways, Athapaththu’s career trajectory is similar to that of Aravinda de Silva. Both were obvious talents, yet they started their careers in weak teams and so couldn’t reach the heights their talent deserved. Like Aravinda, once the team around Athapaththu started improving, she went from being really good to a great player. It’s hard to bat from both ends. 

In the last two years, she has scored 1200 plus runs in T20Is at an average of 34.50 and strike rate of 127.38. Her record in the 13 years preceding that, 2090 runs at an average of 21.77 and strike rate of 102.90.

Her true numbers in the last two years are even more astonishing. A true strike rate of 27.52 and true average of 7.93. Only Nat Sciver-Brunt, Richa Ghosh and Danni Wyatt have scored quicker at a better average. And Chamari has made more than double the runs they have, with a fraction of the professional support. 

Of all the Sri Lankan batters who have played during this period, only Kaveesha Dilhari has a true average and strike rate above zero. Chamari isn’t just better than every one of her teammates; she may as well be on a different planet.

It’s no coincidence that just as Chamari has stepped into the realms of greatness, her team has become a competitive force in the women’s game for the first time. Since their return the self-imposed hiatus from 2020 to 2022, they’ve won over 60% of their T20Is. If we consider only the last two years prior to the 2024 T20 World Cup, that figure goes up to 68%.

During this period, the team won its first match against New Zealand, won series and matches away from home against England and South Africa, picked up an Asian Games silver medal, and celebrated its maiden Asia Cup title. 

While the team has achieved so much, Chamari herself became the first Sri Lankan woman to win an ICC award in 2023, taking home the Women’s ODI player of the year and being nominated for two other major awards. She was also named Captain of both the ODI and T20I teams of the year, an achievement she is most proud of.

While they haven’t seen as much success in ODI cricket, Sri Lanka are still in a really good position to qualify automatically for the World Cup in India next year, something they failed to do in the previous Women’s Championship cycle. In fact, the abandonment of the qualifiers meant they missed out on the 2022 tournament altogether.

This success has largely been due to Chamari’s scorching run. While she’s been great in T20 Cricket, ODIs are what she does best. It’s always been her stronger suit and in this Women’s Championship cycle, she’s been at her very best. Only Nat Sciver-Brunt has a better true average, and no one with more than 500 runs during this period has scored as quickly as Chamari. 

Chamari has been one of the best batters in the world across formats in the last two years, then you factor in what she offers with the ball. She is Sri Lanka’s third-highest wicket-taker in ODIs in this cycle and has 24 wickets at a strike rate of 20.5 in T20Is over the last two years.

Many still remember Sri Lanka’s success at the 2013 ODI World Cup and how there were hopes that it would be the team's turning point, but things really didn’t pan out that way. This time, there is a real belief that things will be different.

Sri Lanka Cricket have restructured the domestic set-up for the women, contracted a group of 60 players and finally started investing some money in age-group cricket. Chamari herself is quite comfortably the most recognizable female sportsperson in the country and now the commercial opportunities for her are also finally trickling through.

Coming into this T20 World Cup, for the first time ever, there were expectations that Sri Lanka would be a good shout to push for a semi-final spot. Instead, they finished dead last in their group. Chamari has taken the losses particularly hard. At 34, she has hinted at retirement several times already, and she knows she doesn’t have too many more opportunities to take her side into the knockout rounds of a global competition. 

Despite all her success, Chamari is no stranger to disappointment. No one expected one of the best women players on earth to come from a country that basically forgot they had a team for two years. Chamari is the first legend of Sri Lankan women’s cricket, but even as they struggled this World Cup, because of what she has done, she will not be the last.