None of the five franchises opted for Chamari Athapaththu at the WPL 2024 auction. Of all her snubs, this was perhaps the most baffling of them all, writes Abhishek Mukherjee.
Browse through the myriad previews of the WPL 2024 auction, and you will find Chamari Athapaththu faring among the favourites. She was one of the three options when Jio Cinema, the official broadcasters, ran a poll, asking the viewers to predict the most expensive buy.
I understand why. In 2023, Athapastu scored 470 runs with 131 runs in T20Is. Of all the batters with more RBIs this year, only Haley Matthews (132 RBIs) scored faster. Also, she has her 8 wickets while running the ball with less than 1 run on her.
However, this is only part of the story. Athapastu plays for Sri Lanka, but he is not included in the top five teams in the world. Still, they’re starting to get some serious scalps on their backs. In July this year, she achieved her unbeaten record with her 47-ball 80 as New Zealand defeated New Zealand for the first time in her 13 tries in a T20I.
The historical series continued, albeit in a different format. Sri Lanka won the ODI series against New Zealand after losing 10 ODIs without a win against New Zealand. She scored her unbeaten hundred in each of Sri Lanka’s two wins in the series. Both were at a blistering pace of 108 off 83 balls followed by 140 off 80 balls.
Athapaththus’ contributions to the ODI side are well documented. She has scored every one of her 800 for Sri Lanka in this format and so far she has scored almost half of her six.
Of course, you can choose to ignore ODI records. After all, the format is different. But their most famous appearance in T20Is came in England, where Sri Lanka won their first series domestically after the series in New Zealand.
Athapasas’ runs (114) and strike rate (165) were highest for either team. She also hit the most sixes (five) and her 15 fours were more than anyone else. Her five wickets were also the highest, conceding 5.18 overs. That was a great achievement.
Although she was not selected for the WPL 2023 Auction or The Hundred 2023 Draft, a WBBL offer seemed inevitable after the England tour. However, no team showed interest in the draft. She was just as upset as anyone else in her position.
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But when Marizanne Kapp was injured, the door opened. Atapattu was brought on as a substitute for Sydney Thunder and scored 511 runs with 130.550 and won the Player of the Tournament award.
It wasn’t just one tournament. With all T20 runs capped at 1,000 in 2023, Athapastu’s strike rate of 129 is the fourth best in the world. Also, she only scored 6.40 per over with her 17 wickets.
Therefore, it was natural to expect franchisees to bid enthusiastically for Athapastu. After spending Rs 2 million on Annabel Sutherland, Delhi Capitals were left with only Rs 2.5 million, while other teams could afford to pay Athapastu’s base price of Rs 30 million.
But none of the teams were interested. Perhaps one can understand the logic behind UP Warriors and Mumbai Indians, where only one foreign cricketer was allowed at a time. UP had already nabbed Danny Wyatt at auction. If Attapassas’ name had come up before Wyatt’s, she might have won the bid. Meanwhile, Mumbai was looking for a fast bowler to lead the attack. He got Shabnim Ismail.
When the expedited auction list was announced, the only teams that could claim Athapastu were Gujarat Giants and Royal Challengers Bangalore. Neither had any interest in her or Diandra Dottin.
Athapathas’ scorn provoked a predictable reaction. “This is unfair because the people in this auction room should have seen her performance in the WBBL. They should have seen what happened in England… a player of her all-round ability I am really surprised that it remains unsold,” Anjum Chopra said in his post-auction analysis. “There’s a player who can do double duty for you but is unsold. Why don’t these teams recognize the quality of this player?”
“She wasn’t necessarily on our radar, but we thought she would be one of our top three picks,” agreed Charlotte Edwards, who led the Mumbai Indians to the season title. did. It was first issued in 2023 and tendered for franchise in 2023. Auction in 2024. “She is a first-class player who has performed excellently over the past 12 months.”
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