Sri Lanka announces squad for 2023 Women’s T20 World Cup

image-ldlnx0xvSL team during 2022 Asia Cup (ACC)

The Sri Lanka Cricket Board (SLC) have announced a 15-player squad for the upcoming 2023 Women’s T20 World Cup. The tournament is set to be played in South Africa between February 10 and 26 across three different venues.

Senior batting all-rounder Chamari Athapaththu is set to continue as team leader, thus marking her return to competitive cricket after Women’s Big Bash League last November.


Athapaththu to lead Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka’s most successful T20 batter, Athapaththu, will once again headline her side at a global event. She was also her team’s skipper back in the 2020 T20 World Cup, where Sri Lanka’s campaign crash-landed within the opening stage of the tournament.

Athapaththu will continue to open the innings alongside Harshitha Samarawickrama, who scored a match-winning 81 against Thailand during their runners-up Asia Cup 2022 campaign.

Vishmi Gunaratne, who recently led Sri Lanka’s Under-19 side in its maiden World Cup, has also been included in the expanded squad. She was her side’s leading run-getter at the Under-19 World Cup, yielding 134 runs at an average of nearly 45.


Sri Lanka’s 15-player squad:

Chamari Athapaththu (c), Oshadi Ranasinghe, Harshitha Samarawickrama, Nilakshi de Silva, Kavisha Dilhari, Anushka Sanjeewani, Kaushini Nuthyangana, Malsha Shehani, Inoka Ranaweera, Sugandika Kumari, Achini Kulasuriya, Vishmi Gunaratne, Tharika Sewwandi, Ama Kanchana and Sathya Sandeepani.

Sri Lanka’s crusade will kick-off with the tournament opener itself, as they are scheduled to face hosts South Africa on February 10. They are placed in Group A, with Bangladesh, New Zealand and defending champions Australia being the other competitors.

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