Athapaththu is an all-rounder who plays for the Sri Lanka women’s cricket team and is the current captain of the Sri Lankan T20I squad. Known for her aggressive batting at the top of the order, Athapaththu earned her maiden international call-up in the 2009 Women’s World T20I tournament. She eventually made her debut against India in a group stage match and was dismissed for just 16 runs. The following year Athapaththu was named in the Sri Lankan squad for their ODI tour of West Indies. The all-rounder made her ODI debut in the first match of the series and had a nightmarish start, getting dismissed for a duck. She scored her maiden ODI ton against Ireland in 2011, and in the process became the first Sri Lankan cricketer to score a century in one-day cricket. Athapaththu holds the record of scoring the most number of ODI centuries for the Sri Lanka women’s team and also has the highest average amongst all the female cricketers to have played for Sri Lanka. At the 2016 Women’s T20I World Cup, the aggressive batter scored her maiden T20I half-century against South Africa and was the leading run-getter for Sri Lanka with 141 runs in four matches. During Sri Lanka’s World Cup game against Australia in 2017, Athapaththu slammed the third-highest score in women’s ODI match, with an unbeaten 178. Even in a losing cause, she was named the player of the match for her scintillating performance with the bat. The Gokarella-born is a big game player and that was evident from the fact that she finished as the highest run-getter for Sri Lanka in the 2020 Women’s T2O World Cup, with 154 runs in four matches. A stalwart of Sri Lankan cricket, Athapaththu has been the backbone of the side over the last decade. At the twilight of her career, she still has plenty to offer and will look to nurture the youngsters before she decides to bid farewell to this game. (As of April 2021)
