Sri Lankan opener Dimuth Karunaratne is all set to retire from Test cricket after playing hsi 100 Test match. He currently stands on 99Test matches and will play his 100th at Galle in the second Test against Australia.
Australia won the first Test by an innings and 242 runs at Galle. The side has already made it to the WTC 2023-25 final and will take on South Africa later this year in June.
There are a few factors that made the southpaw arrive at this decision. The most important of them all is that Sri Lanka does not play any Test cricket until May 2026. Karunaratne has struggled in the format off late averaging 27.05 since the start of 2024.
ADVERTISEMENT
Loading...
This is also Sri Lanka's final Test of this World Test Championship cycle. Talking to ESPN Cricinfo from Galle the former Sri Lankan skipper opened up on his decision.
"It was the right time to go, considering there are three or four younger players who could come in for the next WTC cycle. Plus, this match was in Galle, where I made my debut, so it will be nice to finish things there. After the first Test against Australia ended, I told SLC that the next Test would be my last" Karunaratne told ESPNcricinfo.
Karunaratne had made his Test debut in November 2012 against New Zealand, at the same ground where he is now set to retire. He was dropped from the team briefly in 2014, but struck his first Test hundred towards the end of that year. He has hit 15 centuries since, more or less enjoying a consistent place in the Test team, until becoming one of its senior-most players.
Karunaratne Scored 7079 Runs As An Opener
Over the last decade, he has been one of Sri Lanka's most consistent player in the format. He has scored the most runs as an opener for Sri Lanka scoring 7079 at an average of 39.99 in that position. He will also become Sri Lanka's seventh cricketer to 100 Tests, following Sanath Jayasuriya, Muthiah Muralidaran, Chaminda Vaas, Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara and Angelo Mathews. He also spoke about playing 100 Test matches in the format and spoke about his only regret in the format.
"Playing 100 Tests is a tough thing to accomplish, especially when you're an opening batter and you're doing the dirty work for the team. "If I have regrets, one of them would be not being able to get to 10,000 Test runs. I thought the way that I was going in 2017, 2018 and 2019, that I'd have the chance to get there. But then Covid hit, and Sri Lanka don't play as many Tests anymore" Karunaratne told ESPNcricinfo.
Sri Lanka suffered an innings defeat at Galle in the first Test and the southpaw would want to make it a memorable one by contributing on a winning cause. The second Test will be played from 6-10 February.
