We Always Talk Positively In The Dressing Room And Never Negatively, Says Chamari Athapaththu

We always talk positively in the dressing room and never negatively, says Chamari Athapaththu (Image Source: IANS)

After Sri Lanka recorded their first ever T20I series victory over England with a seven-wicket win in the decider, captain Chamari Athapaththu revealed talking about positivity in the dressing room and keeping out negative talks.

"My bowling unit has done really well, and in the whole tournament so credit to them. The batting, bowling and fielding coaches have been really good. As a new group we have executed our plans really well. We always talk positively in the dressing room and never negatively," she said after the game ended.

In the match, Chamari took Player of the Match award for picking three wickets in her spell to bowl out England for just 116. She then smashed 44 from just 28 deliveries to ensure Sri Lanka chased down the target with three overs to spare, also taking Player of the Series award.

"I am really happy about my performance and my team's performance. I worked hard in the nets and we have been playing good cricket in previous games and we continued that performance today and we won," she added.

Chamari feels Sri Lanka have all the good ingredients to be a good side in future. "Sri Lanka Cricket have helped a lot for women's cricket. They increased our payments and gave contracts to 60 players in our national side so we have a good domestic structure as well and I think we can be a good team in the future."

England captain Heather Knight said she does not regret resting key players like Nat Sciver-Brunt and Sophia Dunkley for the T20I series, adding that her team must improve in playing against spin, a weakness which Sri Lanka exploited to the fullest.

"Credit to Sri Lanka. They have been brilliant in the last two games. They came out with a clear plan, bowling lots of spin, and that has identified areas where we need to be better. We have a young team but that is no excuse. We have been a bit off and have been punished."

"It was a risk we took, bringing some young players in and resting some senior players, but we don't regret it. There is a lot of cricket these days and resting players gives opportunities. You don't know too much about a player until you expose them to international cricket."