Is Chamari Athapaththu Sri Lanka’s greatest cricketer ever?

By Harsha Amarasinghe 

Colombo, April 24 (Daily Mirror) - Chamari Athapaththu's historical 195 against South Africa last week saw her claiming the top spot of ICC Women's ODI Batting Rankings on Tuesday.

It was in fact the second time she achieved the feat in her ODI career which has now opened up a debate whether she'd go down as the greatest Sri Lankan cricketer in both men's and women's game in terms of the pure impact. 

Hailing from a modest family in Kurunegala, Chamari's greatest supporter in cricket was her late father who used to accompany her for practices in Colombo, but sadly passed away in 2008 - a year before her international debut. However, her cricketing journey never stopped there, and after 15 years at the top level of women's cricket, Chamari has now reached the twilight of her career. 

Following the cracking 195 against South African women's team, Chamari told the media that her 'retirement is very soon.'

So how does she fare against the likes of Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardane, Sanath Jayasuriya, Aravinda de Silva and Muttiah Muralitharan in the discussion for greatest Sri Lankan cricketer ever?

Mahadevan Sathasivam was probably Sri Lanka's first batting super star having dominated the game in the late 1940s. Sir Garry Sobers called him the 'greatest batsman ever on earth' and according to Frank Worrell, Sathasivam was the 'best batsman he had ever seen.'

Dulip Mendis was a batting maestro for Sri Lanka in 1970s and 1980s while Roy Dias inspired a generation of cricketers with silky technique. 

Sanath Jayasuriya and Romesh Kaluwitharana changed the way ODI cricket was played in 1996 while Aravinda de Silva made himself man for big occasions in leading Sri Lanka to maiden ODI World Cup.

Muttiah Muralitharan ended up being highest wicket taker in cricket while Sangakkara and Mahela became the big two of Sri Lanka Cricket for nearly a decade winning a T20 World Cup and finishing runners up in four World Cups in the process. 

So, what has Chamari Athapaththu has done for Sri Lanka Cricket?

At the start of his career she was just an opening batter but as she matured she made herself a very useful off-spin bowler and contributed to the team immensely.

She took over a team that was down and out, and brought them all together to achieve wins over top teams such as New Zealand, England and South Africa.

All the top ten highest scores for Sri Lanka women's in ODI cricket belongs to Chamari. She is the top scorer for Sri Lanka women's in at least 80% of their wins. 

In the men's game Sri Lanka always had great teams. The 1996 World Cup winning team was full of stars, Sri Lanka probably had their best run in international cricket from 1996 to 2015 - after that they started celebrating wins against Bangladesh.

But in the case of Chamari, more often than not Sri Lanka women's team was Chamari. The individual impact she has had on Sri Lanka cricket is sadly not recognized because of the high standards of men's game. 

In Chamari Sri Lanka has a living legend who well and truly added meaning to the famous phrase "One (Wo)man Army."