Dimuth Karunaratne was delighted following Sri Lanka’s victory in the first Test against New Zealand, not just because of the 60 World Test Championship points won by his team, but due to the fact that he had broken his century drought.
Karunaratne’s last Test century came in Galle last year, and he’s been particularly irked by his inability convert his eight half-centuries since then to a big score. However, over the course of Saturday evening and Sunday morning, he accumulated 122 runs in 243 balls, on a difficult pitch, and held firm to deny New Zealand hopes of inducing a dramatic collapse on the final day.
His knock took Sri Lanka to the brink of what was a six-wicket victory, and Karunaratne said he had that “hunger” to score. “I had gone through quite a few games without a hundred, and I was telling the team that as well – that I haven’t scored a hundred in a while, and that I’ve got to somehow do it in this game,” said Karunaratne.
“Though, saying that, it was a good batting surface as well. I thought our bowlers operated patiently for a long period of time. We probably even bowled better in the second innings, but without the edges going to hand, and those sorts of things, which is the nature of the game we play.
“Still, I think in a last-innings chase, a lot of credit goes to the way Sri Lanka batted. It was a fantastic hundred by Dimuth.”
The second Test will begin in Colombo on Thursday, August 22.
