Sometimes all you need is a little push.
The 2024 Asia Cup was a watershed for this young Sri Lanka outfit. Prior to that exhilarating climax in Dambulla, Sri Lanka's flashes of international brilliance were almost exclusively engineered by Chamari Athapaththu. Sure, they could occasionally trade heavy blows with the world's elite, but they lacked the collective capacity for a sustained fight. This was a queendom, one where removing Athapaththu early meant the game was as good as won.
That lopsided dynamic had been there ever since Athapaththu's debut back in 2009. So it was impossible not to share her heartbreak when she bemoaned her team's failure to make the T20 World Cup semi-finals earlier this year - "It's a sadness beyond words… I could never get a chance to take my team into a semi-final of a World Cup… I think I'm a failure as a captain."
The tragedy of that lament lay in the irony of its timing. For the first time in Athapaththu's career, she wasn't actually marooned by herself. The world had already been treated to a glorious glimpse of the team's ceiling in 2024, when Harshitha Samarawickrama and Kavisha Dilhari struck the winning runs against a heavily favoured India side.
But keeping the progress going is rarely that straightforward - think less ladder and more hiking path with troughs and peaks. And it was a truth that Sri Lanka quickly learned. The euphoria of Dambulla was swept aside by a winless group-stage exit at the T20 World Cup in 2024, followed by a barren 2025 devoid of series wins.
The year ended in structural upheaval as the team parted ways with head coach Rumesh Ratnayake, whose calming influence and fatherly reassurance had been foundational to their initial breakthrough.
So was it any surprise that in the last throes of an astonishing career, Athapaththu might have felt her time was up? At 36, with retirement on the not-so-distant-horizon, Athapaththu could be forgiven for thinking her last chance had come and gone.
But women's cricket has shown in recent times that traditional career timelines, calibrated on the men's game, might not necessarily make sense. Athapaththu has only grown stronger with age. After a quiet 2025 where she scored just 190 T20I runs at a strike rate of 113.77, she has struck 476 at 143.80 in 2026 - her best strike rate in a calendar year.
And if it was motivation that she needed, her younger colleagues are playing their part in keeping the queen locked in for as long as possible.
Imesha Dulani, 24, has had a breakthrough year, becoming the first Sri Lanka woman not named "Chamari Athapaththu" to score a T20I century, while centuries from Vishmi Gunaratne, 21, and Samarawickrama, 28, led a successful chase of 275 - Sri Lanka's third highest in ODIs - against Pakistan earlier this year, with Athapaththu watching on like the rest of us.
This was also the first year that Sri Lanka Cricket's annual awards had Athapaththu going without a nomination in the best women's ODI batter category, as Samarawickrama won over the electric Nilakshika Silva. Athapaththu was still the big winner overall, though. In fact, there is now genuine competition for places at the top of the batting order, with the likes of Dulani, Gunaratne and Hasini Perera all vying for top-order berths.
The arrival of Jamie Siddons as head coach earlier this year has helped. Since he took over in March, Sri Lanka have made a noticeable shift to a more aggressive brand of cricket - something Siddons had signposted upon arrival. Whereas boundary-hitting had taken a back seat previously, Siddons has sought to bring the team's approach in line with modern practices.
"We win in singles and twos, but we don't score more boundaries than the opposition, and that's why we lose against the best teams," Siddons had said when he took over.
All this is to say that this Sri Lanka is not the same Sri Lanka that entered the Asia Cup two years ago, nor is it even the one that won it. While they remain distinct underdogs against a formidable India, this is now a side equipped with multiple match-winners and a swelling sense of belief.
It's also a side that is yet to touch its ceiling. There have been times when Athapaththu has not clicked and others have bailed the team out, but it's those scintillating periods when it has all come together that this unit has shown its true fire. If they can put together more of those days, then a consecutive Asia Cup crown might well be within their reach.