The Sri Lanka women’s team that won the Asia Cup was presented with Rs. 150 million at a felicitation ceremony and their captain Chamari Atapattu praised coach Rumesh Ratnayake for turning things around over the past 18 months.
“Coach Rumesh Ratnayake made the biggest difference towards our success. He discouraged anything that was negative and gave us a positive mindset and the freedom to enjoy what we do. I and my team were blessed to have a coach like him” said Chamari who has been playing for the past 15 years.
Sri Lanka beat India in the final last Sunday after ending runners up in the Asia Cup on six previous occasions.
Chamari said the team was looking forward to the World Cup in Bangladesh in September which she said will be a harder challenge than the Asia Cup with Sri Lanka grouped with Australia, New Zealand, India and Pakistan in one group.
“We cannot take anything for granted as the World Cup is different to the Asia Cup and we cannot rest on what we achieved at the Asia Cup but definitely winning the Asia Cup has made us set our thoughts on the World Cup and I know my team can meet the challenges”, said Chamari.
Sri Lanka is ranked seventh in the women’s T20 Rankings with Australia and England occupying the top two slots followed by India, New Zealand, South Africa and the West Indies.
