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'Batters Have Failed': Chamari Athapaththu's Brutal Assessment of SL's Dismal Showing In T20 WC

Athapaththu dismissed Vs AUS [Source: @ScreenGrab) Athapaththu dismissed Vs AUS [Source: @ScreenGrab)

Sri Lankan skipper, Chamari Athapaththu gave her honest feedback related to her side's dismal performance so far in the Women's T20 World Cup. The Asian side were the dark horses for the coveted trophy, but have already lost back-to-back games.

Athapaththu disappointed with batters

One of the tournament favourites, started off the competition with a shocking loss at the hands of Pakistan, followed by a lacklustre showing against the defending champions, Australia. The team now finds themselves in a dire situation and need to win all their remaining games to have a glimmer of hope of qualifying for the semis.

Explaining the reason for Sri Lanka's woeful performance, Athapaththu indirectly blamed at the batters, and stated that they have failed to adapt to the slow and low conditions of UAE. She further added that in the last year, her side have played on quality fast pitches, and are finding hard to make the change in the ongoing tournament.

"In the last 16 months, we have been playing really good cricket and we are playing on good batting tracks. We won in Sri Lanka and South Africa and Ireland, so we perform really well on good tracks because I feel our batters need some good pace and bounce.

"In these conditions, it's a bit hard to do that but at the end of the day, we can't complain about these things. We have to adjust to these conditions. Adaptation is the most important thing as a batting unit. So, the first two warm-up games, we played really well. But I feel the same thing in the Pakistan game and today's game, we struggled a little bit," Athapaththu added.

Sri Lanka faces stern test as batters struggle for runs

Against Pakistan, the Sri Lankan bowlers did extremely well, but the batters failed to chase down 117. The Lankan side were restricted to just 85, as their net run-rate suffered the most. In the next match against Australia, Sri Lankan batters once again fumbled, and despite the bowlers' efforts, a target of 94 was never going to be difficult for them.

The Asian side now need to win all the matches, and even that won't guarantee them a place in the next round, as the Athapaththu led side will have to depend on other results as well. Sri Lanka need to win their next match by a big margin to stay alive in the tournament.