South Africa as host is under more pressure than us: Chamari

• Sri Lanka-South Africa kick-start ICC Women’s T20 WC today

Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu said that as host country South Africa will obviously be under a lot of pressure than her team as both sides kick-off the ICC Women’s T20 WC at Newlands, Cape Town today.

“South Africa is the host country and they know they are a very good team and what kind of pressure they have. We all know South Africa has a lot of experienced players. They play a lot of cricket all around the world, especially franchise cricket,” said Athapaththu at the pre-match media conference yesterday. 

“My team we have a few senior players and a lot of youngsters but I will trust myself, not only me but my team, they have good potential and they are very skilful players. So, if they are playing at their best and we stick to our plans, I know we can beat any team.”

Sri Lanka played two warm-up matches ahead of today’s game, winning against Ireland and losing to West Indies in two close contests.

“We played two games against Ireland and the West Indies. Both games were very close. We played a super over and we won the super over as well. The last three days we played some good cricket. We have good experience of the conditions,” said Athapaththu. 

“The best thing is the youngsters performed well except me, because the last couple of years there was a lot of pressure on my shoulders. In this tournament my plus point is Harshitha (Samarawickrama) who is playing really good cricket in the last couple of months, Nilakshi (de Silva) and Anushka (Sanjeewani) who have performed well. I feel free because I can just play my natural game and I don’t have any pressure.”

Athapaththu said the T20 World Cup was a really good opportunity for the youngsters to play alongside top teams like Australia, England, New Zealand and South Africa and share the knowledge and good competition and gain good experience. “I told my youngsters to play freely. Don’t put a lot of pressure on their shoulders. This is one game, one ball, one time. In this format, anything can happen. We can’t predict any decision in this format. This format is really open for all teams because this is not a 50-over, this is a T20, a small format, a small version,” said Athapaththu. 

“Every game and everything is a challenge. So as a cricketer we have to accept the challenge. I know we are playing in South African conditions and I accept a lot of South African spectators. I know there will be some kind of pressure from our side and South Africa as well because they are playing in their home conditions. They are the host team; they are playing in front of their fans. Big pressure on South Africa as well. I just want my girls to play positive cricket freely.”