Women's World T20 2018: Led by experienced Chamari Atapattu, Sri Lanka look to erase dark past in tournament

Sri Lankan cricket is currently in utter chaos. Match-fixing accusations on some of the stalwarts of the Sri Lankan men’s team has brought massive embarrassment to the island nation. The men’s team has been on a decline since a long time in international cricket. And amidst all of this, Sri Lanka women will fly to Caribbean to take part in the Women’s World T20 2018. Not only these women have the opportunity to bring some respect back to the cricketing legacy of the country but they can also help improve their dismal record in the tournament. Sri Lanka will be led by the experienced Chamari Atapattu. And  17-year-old Kavisha Dilhari also deserves a special mention. She played a crucial role in the ODI series against India some months back. She was the reason why Sri Lanka could bring an end to their losing streak against India in ODIs. [caption id=“attachment_5499471” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Sri Lanka have played all the editions of the Women’s World T20 but have never gone past the first round. Image courtesy: Twitter/OfficialSLC[/caption] Form leading into 2018 WC Not great is the answer when we talk about the recent performances of the team in this format of the game. Sri Lanka lost the 5-match T2oI series against India by a scoreline of 4-0. All the defeats were daunting and reflected many chinks in the team. Before that, they could only manage 2 wins in 5 games they played in Asia Cup T20. Not to forget that one of the losses came against a low-key Thailand, who beat them by 4 wickets. In fact, they have won only 3 out of 13 T20Is they played this year so far, losing 9, while one ended up in no result. T20 World Cup history Sri Lanka have participated in all editions of the tournament since its inception in the year 2009. However, they have not been able to go past the first round of the tournament at any edition. Player(s) to watch out for The key player for Sri Lanka will be the captain and their best batswoman Chamari Atapattu. She is an experienced campaigner and her T20I record speaks for itself. In 69 matches played so far, she has amassed 1162 runs, scoring these runs with a strike rate of 92.73. The other player who will gain a lot of attention will be Kavisha Dilhari. Like mentioned earlier, she is young and is seen as the next big thing in Sri Lanka cricket. Dilani Manodara is another big player for the side and she will be expected to do the bulk of run-scoring for the team in the showpiece event. Prediction Sri Lanka, despite, huge pool of talent, have not been able to deliver at the big stages. This year too, they have an abundance of talent in the side but the current form does not give much power to their hopes of doing any different than the last editions of the tournament. However, these are the challenges that can push the team to do well and we should not be surprised if they spring some surprises. Schedule 10 November at St Lucia: Sri Lanka vs England 12 November at St Lucia: Sri Lanka vs South Africa 14 November at St Lucia: Sri Lanka vs Bangladesh 16 November at St Lucia: Sri Lanka vs Windies Squad Chamari Atapattu (c), Nilakshi de Silva, Kavisha Dilhari, Ama Kanchana, Sugandika Kumari, Eshani Lokusuriyage, Dilani Manodara, Yasoda Mendis, Hasini Perera, Udeshika Prabodhani, Inoshi Priyadharshani, Oshadi Ranasinghe, Shashikala Siriwardene, Rebeca Vandort, Sripali Weerakkody