Sri Lanka Women cricket team captain Chamari Atapattu said that rankings don’t mean a thing and that she was confident her side would put up a good contest against India in the upcoming three-match ODI series and five-match T20I series.
The ODI series commences at Galle on Tuesday.
Answering a question at the media conference held at Jaic Hilton on Saturday what kind of challenge eighth ranked Sri Lanka can pose to India who are ranked three, Chamari replied: “Any team that plays well on that day will win. If you take the rankings when we went for the 2013 World Cup we were ranked 8th but we defeated India, England and South Africa and Harsha de Silva was our coach on that occasion. I believe ranking is only a number. If we perform well on the day we can beat any team. I am confident we can do that.”
Speaking further Chamari said: “We need to improve our batting skills because we tend to struggle against spin. We cannot make the changes overnight but over time with new coach (Harsha de Silva) we can achieve it.”
De Silva who has returned as coach of the women’s team after five years in Australia said that his work has been made easy because out of the pool of 24 players at least 20 were there in 2013 when he last handled them.
“It is a big advantage to me because I had worked with these girls before. I could see a lot of talent skill wise and there is a lot of talent to work to take them forward. We have done 3 weeks of training for this series and I am extremely happy with our preparations,” said De Silva.
Giving reasons for returning as coach De Silva said, “I was away in Australia for 5 years and once you have been in a high performance environment after a while you come to start missing the environment you were in before. That’s why I thought I make a comeback not only to undertake women’s cricket I was open for any high performance team to take. This is a great opportunity for me to get into the system again and take it forward.”
Indian women’s captain Mithali Raj said that she was positive about the performances of her team on the field.
“We have played Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup and World Cup and we feel that it is a team that has grown from year to year. Now the gap between top teams and bottom teams are narrowing because of the ICC championship tournaments,” said Mithali.
Pointing to Chamari, Mithali said, “You do have a player representing Sri Lanka in the Big Bash League that itself shows that you have a very strong team. We are looking forward to gaining as many points as we can in this bilateral series as ICC qualifying tournament points are crucial for both the teams.” - ST
TOUR ITINERARY
11 Sep: 1st ODI at Galle
13 Sep: 2nd ODI at Galle
16 Sep: 3rd ODI at Katunayake
19 Sep: 1st T20I at Katunayake
21 Sep: 2nd T20I at Colts
22 Sep: 3rd T20I at CCC
24 Sep: 4th T20I at CCC
25 Sep: 5th T20I at Katunayake
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