Sri Lanka will be eying to make it three in three and a seal a spot in the semi-final of the Women’s T20 World Cup when they take on defending champions Australia today in St George’s Park, Gqeberha.
Australia are currently leading Group ‘A’ with 4 points thanks to their superior run rate, while the Asia Cup runners up are sitting in second spot, also with 4 points, after winning their first two matches against South Africa and Bangladesh. Sri Lanka are yet to reach a Women’s T20 World Cup semifinal, but signs are looking good this time around.
The Lankans looked in decent touch in the first two matches and once again skipper Chamari Athapaththu will be the key for Sri Lanka if they are to end on the winning side in the crucial game. Athapaththu is no stranger to Australia as she has registered a century against the mighty Aussies and has a good record against them. Arguably the most dynamic of Sri Lanka’s women cricketers, Chamari holds the key to her team’s success, as has been the case for a major part of the last decade. With 2,181 T20I runs at 21.38 with five fifties and a hundred, she comfortably leads the run-scoring charts among Sri Lanka women and is the most capped player for the country with 106 caps. She is also effective with her right-arm off-breaks, which has fetched her 34 T20I wickets to date at an impressive economy of 6.89. In the last edition of the Women’s T20 World Cup in Australia three years ago, Athapaththu led Sri Lanka’s batting with scores of 41, 50, 33 and 30 at a combined strike-rate of 135.08. Opener Harshitha Samarawickrama and young Vishmi Gunaratne, to name a few, will also need their bats to do the talking if Sri Lanka is to seal a semi-final spot.
Meanwhile, Australia who have lifted the trophy five times of the seven editions, will come hard at the Lankans in order to make sure of their semi-final spot early. Australia boast four of the top six players on the current T20I batter rankings, while experienced pacer Megan Schutt leads a flexible bowling line-up that has a bevy of spin bowling options.
