New Delhi [India], February 20 (ANI): Sri Lankan superstar Chamari Athapaththu has set her eyes on the big prize at the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup later this year.
After winning the ICC Women’s ODI Player of the Year award, Chamari Athapaththu is eyeing a bigger goal later this year at the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024.
The Sri Lankan skipper recounted her incredible year in 2023, culminating in the big ICC award, and stated that going unsold at the Women’s Premier League [WPL] auction was a big motivating factor behind it.
“Internationally it was the best year I have had in my career. Not just as a batter, but as a captain, and even as a team, we performed really well in 2023. Thanks to those performances, I was nominated for the ICC Player of the Year, and T20 Player of the Year, and I won the ODI Player of the Year award. To be honest, I didn’t expect to be named captain of the two teams of the year,” Athapathuthu told Cricbuzz as quoted by ICC.
Athapaththu was the captain of the Women’s ODI and T20I teams of the year named by ICC after her spectacular year, which saw the Sri Lankan team to achieve several milestones.
Athapaththu led the side to a first bilateral series win over New Zealand. The top-order batter starred in both victories with a couple of fiery centuries that blew New Zealand away.
Her 108* and 140* came in pressure chases and on both occasions, the opener was at the crease to guide her team to victory.