Chamari Athapaththu hopeful of Australia series if they play free, positive cricket

Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu is hopeful of a good T20 series in Australia. She believes the three Twenty20 matches will help them prepare for the upcoming T20 World Cup.

Considering that Australia is one of the best teams of the world and the fact that the 20 overs World Cup will be held next year in Australia, it is indeed a good opportunity for Sri Lanka to play against the hosts and adjust to the conditions.

Australia, who had a clean sweep over West Indies in their own backyard, and had won the Ashes in England earlier this summer, are favorites in the series.

Sri Lanka, on the other hand, had consecutive losses in their last 7 games and Chamari is surely aware of the odds stacked against them. The captain is hopeful that they can manage to win if they don’t get intimidated by Australia and play freely.

“This tour is very important for us because of the T20 World Cup in February so it’s good preparation, playing the best team in the world in their home conditions,” Athapaththu said on the eve of the first game in Sydney on Sunday, 29 September. “We have brought a couple of players to try before the T20 World Cup so it’s a good opportunity for us. (Source: ICC)

Athapaththu urged her girls to play free, positive cricket. She believes in the preparation that they have done and is hopeful that her players will play well.

“We will try to play to our potential and play our normal game. Our preparation has been really good in Sri Lanka, we have good players, some experienced and some new players. If we play our normal, free game we have a chance”, she was quoted saying to ICC.

Sri Lanka will play 3 T20Is and 3 ODIs against the host Australia on this tour.