Playing two women’s IPL always gives more advantage to play against India, said Sri Lankan women’s cricket captain Chamari Atapattu before their T-20 and ODI series against India which will commence on today (23) at 2.pm at the Rangiri Dambulla International cricket stadium.
“Actually I had a chance to play with Indian players during the IPL and that was great opportunity. Indian players also knew more about me but I have more advantage to make a plan against them. When I was played fourth edition of the women’s IPL held so far, my team Supernovas led by Harmanpreet Kaur and her team is most successful having won the title three times. Harmanpreet gave some tips to me how to make plans against Indian players and that tips is very useful to play with this India team which comprised with experienced and youngsters. We had chance to see more matches during the IPL and got good knowledge about them. Indians have plans against me but we have more home advantage at this time during this T-20 and ODI series,” added Chamari.
This time Harmanpreet will lead the India team while the absence of the two experienced players Mithila Raj and Jhulan Goswami we have to play against more youngsters but these young players also I knew very well with their set up from the school level.
“This is going to be ideal platform and right time for the young players to grab their opportunities and it’s good for both teams for the forthcoming Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. We have very talented youngsters like Vishmi Gunaratne, Hansima Karunaratne, Harshitha Samarawickrama and Kaushani Nutyhyangana the wicket keeper who come from school level to the National side and Vishmi also just 16 years old. Indians also have players like Shafali Verma, Renuka and Meghna. Shafia also came to the side as a 16 years old player. Indians have very competitive domestic level women’s cricket structure and we also hope to get higher standard structure and SLC already plan to work out for this issue.
“The vice captain of India, Smriti Mandhana has good potential as a batter while experienced Harmanpreet Kaur the skipper handle the team very well and we have focus all this to play this t-20 as well as ODI series.”
“I think we have good new players while leg spinner Rashmi de Silva is a new talent for the team and she will cover most wanted leg spin bowlers duty during this tournament. The youngsters have to get match exposure and they can develop their skills while playing against this type of strong teams. When compere the two teams, bowling department both teams have equal strength but in batting, Indians are slightly ahead.”
“We came to the Dambulla 3-4 days before and that is good to adjust to the condition at Dambulla before the T-20 series. Our women’s team presently having guidance of head coach Hashan Tillekaratne had good preparation before this Indian series. We couldn’t adjust properly during our last Pakistan tour and we were not among the runs before the last game and I scored a century at the last Pakistan game.”
Sri Lanka have named uncapped pair of leg spinner Rashmi de Silva and wicketkeeper-batter Kaushani Nuthyangana. The hosts have made six changes to the squad that toured Pakistan, calling up left-arm seamer Tharika Sewwandi and allrounders Vishmi Gunaratne, Sathya Sandeepani and Malsha Shehani. The coach Hashan Tillekratne said Our team had good preparation and playing against India always good exposure. We came early to Dambulla three days before and had a training sessions to adjust to the conditions. The previous Pakistan tour mistakes have to be corrected soon and wanted to play this series. We had some problems in our batting department while most of times depend from experienced Chamari Atapattu. But now young players like Vishmi, Harshitha, Hansima have potential to give good support to Chamari and our plan is to go forward and make plans match by match in this series. The players physical and mental fitness is high after winning the last Pakistan game and we wanted to gain good experience before the Commonwealth Games. Our players got chance to see Sri Lankan men’s team performance against Australia and that also gives big boost to us. “The points of the ODI matches are vital for the next ODI world cup qualification and both teams are more concern about this,” said coach Hashan Tillekaratne.
Sri Lanka squad for ODIs and T20Is against India: Chamari Athapattu (capt.), Hasini Perera, Kavisha Dilhari, Nilakshi de Silva, Anushka Sanjeevani, Oshadhi Ranasinghe, Sugandika Kumari, Inoka Ranaweeram, Achini Kulasuriya, Harshitha Samarawickrama, Vishmi Gunaratne, Malsha Shehani, Ama Kanchana, Udeshika Prabodhani, Rashmi de Silva, Hansima Karunaratne, Kaushani Nuthyangana, Sathya Sandeepani, Tharika Sewwandi.
India Women’s ODI and T20 squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), Smriti Mandhana (vice-capt), Shafali Verma, Yastika Bhatia (wk), S Meghana , Deepti Sharma, Poonam Yadav, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Simran Bahadur , Richa Ghosh (wk), Pooja Vastrakar, Meghna Singh, Renuka Singh, Taniya Bhatia (wk), Harleen Deol Jemimah Rodrigues, Radha Yadav.
Sri Lanka vs India cricket match schedule
1st T20I, June 23, Dambulla
2nd T20I, June 25, Dambulla
3rd T20I, June 27, Dambulla
1st ODI, July 1, Pallekele
2nd ODI, July 4, Pallekele
3rd ODI, July 7, Pallekele
Thursday, June 23, 2022 – 01:00