Sri Lanka women’s captain Chamari Athapaththu produced a sensational bowling performance on Wednesday, becoming the first player in Asia Cup history, across men’s and women’s cricket, to claim seven wickets in a single match.f

Athapaththu returned astonishing figures of 7/5 from just 3.3 overs as Sri Lanka bowled Indonesia out for 49 in their Group B clash at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.

Her remarkable spell helped Sri Lanka defend a target of 125 with ease, sealing a commanding 75-run victory and putting the team within touching distance of a place in the semi-finals of the eight-team tournament being held in the United Arab Emirates.

Athapaththu breaks long-standing Asia Cup record

Before Athapaththu’s extraordinary effort, Pakistan’s Javeria Khan held the record for the best bowling figures in an Asia Cup match. Javeria claimed 6/8 against Bangladesh during the 2008 Women’s Asia Cup in Dambulla, dismissing six batters.

Athapaththu has now surpassed that mark in emphatic fashion, while also becoming the first bowler to claim six or more wickets in a combined men’s and women’s Asia Cup T20I match.

Her figures also established a new record for the best T20I bowling performance by a Sri Lankan player, male or female.

Best bowling figures in Asia Cup history

Chamari Athapaththu (Sri Lanka Women): 7/5 vs Indonesia
Javeria Khan (Pakistan Women): 6/8 vs Bangladesh
Mamatha Maben (India Women): 6/10 vs Sri Lanka
Ajantha Mendis (Sri Lanka): 6/13 vs India
Mohammed Siraj (India): 6/21 vs Sri Lanka
Bhuvneshwar Kumar (India): 5/4 vs Afghanistan

Bhuvneshwar remains the only bowler to have taken five wickets in the men’s T20I edition of the Asia Cup. In the women’s competition, three Pakistan bowlers and one from Thailand had previously recorded five-wicket hauls.

Second captain to take seven wickets in T20Is

Athapaththu’s feat also places her among a select group of captains to achieve the remarkable milestone in T20I cricket. She became only the second captain in women’s or men’s T20I history to take seven wickets in an innings, following Argentina’s Alison Stocks.

Stocks registered figures of 7/3 in 3.4 overs against Peru in Seropedica on October 14, 2022.

Athapaththu’s record-breaking spell was therefore not merely a match-winning performance but a landmark moment for Sri Lankan cricket, as she single-handedly dismantled Indonesia’s batting line-up and propelled her side closer to the knockout stages of the Asia Cup.