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Ahead of their last and final match of the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2024 campaign against New Zealand, Sri Lanka skipper Chamari Athapaththu opened up on her team's disappointing performance in the ongoing marquee event.
"Usually, if I score, the other players score too, it's easy for us to win the matches. In this tournament, our first second third and fourth players were not there in the scores. That's why I think we lost the tournament," Athapaththu said as quoted by the ICC. All eyes will be on the White Ferns in the Sharjah heat, who can go closer to a semi-final spot with a victory over Sri Lanka in the first match of the day. Despite a heavy loss to Australia and sitting in fourth place on the Group A table, Sophie Devine's team still have their tournament fate effectively in their own hands, with wins over their next opponents going a long way to challenging India and Australia. Also taking on Pakistan in their final group game, four points from the rest of their group stage campaign is a possibility for Devine's team, who would also be eager watchers of the Australia/India fixture later on in the tournament schedule. The White Ferns take on a Sri Lanka side with only pride to play for having been mathematically eliminated already, and while a victory at the tournament would still be of utmost importance to Chamari Athapaththu and her team, their tournament scenario may hand opportunities to fringe members of the squad. The Asia Cup 2024 champions have been far from their best, particularly with the bat with no player scoring at better than a run a ball or averaging over 30. Athapaththu in particular has been stifled, making scores of just 6, 3 and 1 in the campaign. While the skipper and two of her teammates (Udeshika Prabodhani and Sugandika Kumari) have taken four wickets each in the three appearances, there has been a lack of cut-through with the ball, most notably when they leaked 172/3 against India. New Zealand all-rounder Maddy Green said that the team is just trying to win every game. "I think we're just trying to win every game we play. The conversations about net run rate will happen later in the tournament, but we're just focused on tomorrow, making sure we're winning that game. We've sort of talked about as a group just one game at a time, just being really focused on that. Yeah, and it's most important to get the win first," Maddy Green said. Squads: New Zealand: Sophie Devine (c), Suzie Bates, Eden Carson, Izzy Gaze, Maddy Green, Brooke Halliday, Fran Jonas, Leigh Kasperek, Melie Kerr, Jess Kerr, Rosemary Mair, Molly Penfold, Georgia Plimmer, Hannah Rowe, Lea Tahuhu Sri Lanka: Chamari Athapaththu (c), Anushka Sanjeewani, Harshitha Madhavi, Nilakshika de Silva, Inoka Ranaweera, Hasini Perera, Kavisha Dilhari, Sachini Nisansala, Vishmi Gunaratne, Udeshika Prabodhani, Achini Kulasuriya, Sugandika Kumari, Inoshi Priyadharshani, Shashini Gimhani, Ama Kanchana. (ANI)
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