One of Sri Lanka’s leading role models, Chamari Atapattu, took women’s cricket in the island to a roaring height as she was picked as the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Women’s ODI Player of the Year (2023) for its annual awards presentation that will be held this year.
In the process Chamari, now aged 33, has also silenced her critics in India who turned their backs on her and refused to accept her presence at the women’s segment of the Indian Premier League by not having her at the annual player auctions last month.
But most importantly for Sri Lanka her recognition by the ICC is a direct slap on the faces of the petted and pampered men’s team that suffered a disgraced exit at last November’s ODI World Cup in India with the team finishing ninth out of ten and failing to qualify for the 2025 Champions Trophy.
She attributed her success to leading from the front and gaining the support of her Sri Lanka team which scored a historic maiden triumph over New Zealand in an ODI series last year that eventually compelled the ICC to take stock of her prowess and achievements.
Chamari also acknowledged that her confidence was further boosted by playing in the Australian high profile Big Bash League on a regular level.
Not a single player in the Sri Lanka men’s team was able to procure the kind of recognition that Chamari received in 2023 by way of her conduct and achievements which according to analysts sends out a telling message for the whole of Sri Lanka, where values have been consigned to the garbage dump.
The first sparks that Chamari was destined for international recognition came in the form of an initial ODI series victory over Bangladesh early last year.
But it was the success that she gained by leading the Sri Lanka team to a 2-1 series win over New Zealand that same year that turned heads and paved the way for a place among the world’s best.
In that series against New Zealand, Sri Lanka lost the first game of the three-match series on home soil but came back stunningly to turn tables in the remaining two matches, as Chamari made two centuries scoring 108 and 140.
Her prowess with the bat separated her drastically from the rest of the team that some branded her a “one man or perhaps literally a one woman show” that became obvious when she failed and Sri Lanka lost an ODI series to England in England. However, Chamari led from the front on that same very tour to give the Sri Lankan lasses a remarkable 2/1 series win in the completed T20 series.
