On Monday, Sri Lanka Cricket announced a 17-member squad for the ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier 2021 that will be played in Zimbabwe from November 21 to December 5. The squad will be captained by Chamari Athapaththu. Apart from Sri Lanka, there will be nine other teams, namely, Bangladesh, Ireland, Netherlands, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Thailand, United States, West Indies, and Zimbabwe participating.
Squad: Chamari Athapaththu (c), Harshitha Madavi (vc), Inoka Ranaweera, Nilakshi de Silva, Hasini Perera, Oshadi Ranasinghe, Ama Kanchana, Udeshika Prabodhani, Prasadani Weerakkody, Sugandika Kumari, Anushka Sanjeewani, Kavisha Dilhari, Imesha Dulani, Vishmi Rajapaksha, Achini Kulasooriya, Tharika Sewwandi, Sachini Nisansala
Stand-bys: Umesha Thimashini, Kawya Kavindi, Madushika Methtananda, Sathya Sandeepani, Lihini Apsara
Out of the 17 players, there are three uncapped players, namely, Sachini Nisansala, Imesha Dulani, Vishmi Rajapaksha. These three players have made the cut into the national side on the back of their stellar domestic performances.
Sachini Nisansala:
She is a 19-year old left arm wrist spinner. She plays for FOG-Seenigama Ladies at the domestic level. She has also represented Sri Lanka in five matches and picked up five wickets. She has played against Bangladesh, Nepal and Maldives. The T20 matches were played in 2019 at Pokhara. She was also a part of Sri Lanka Emerging Women’s team that played against India and Bangladesh in 2019 in Colombo. She featured in three matches and accounted for as many wickets.
Imesha Dulani:
She is a 19-year old batter, who represents FOG-Seenigama Ladies at the domestic level. She is a right-hand bat and right-arm-off spinner. Some of the other major teams that she has represented are Devapathiraja U17 Girls, Devapathiraja, Seenigama Ladies CC, Southern Woman U23 Galle Women U23 and Galle Women.
Vishmi Rajapaksha:
She is a 16-year-old all-rounder, who can bowl pace and is an opening batter. She plays for Seenigama Ladies CC in the WM Premier (one day format). She has played seven matches in the tournament and scored 227 runs at an average of 32.43, including one century. With the ball, she has one wicket in one inning, in which she has bowled.
I am a former cricketer having represented Mumbai University at All India University level. I was a part of MCA probables for the U-19 and U-23 age group. I have been an avid cricket writer for the last five years. Currently I am pursuing my Ph.D from IIT Bombay.