Former Sri Lanka captain and opening batter Dimuth Karunaratne is set to draw curtains on his illustrious international career after the second Test against Australia at Galle, which will also be his 100th in the format.
Over the years, Karunaratne has been a fulcrum of Sri Lanka’s batting in Tests. However, he has struggled for runs of late, with his last hundred coming against Ireland in April 2023. In the first match of the series against Australia, Karunaratne had only managed seven runs, including a duck in the second innings. Before that, he had a poor South Africa tour, scoring just 27 runs in four innings.
According to a Daily FT report, Karunaratne's lacklusre form prompted to his retirement and the second and final Test of the ongoing series will be his last.
"I am happy with what I have achieved so far. I want to announce my retirement with a happy moment like playing in my 100th Test," Karunaratne told the Sri Lankan daily.
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With just the small matter of a four-and-a-half hour flight in between.https://t.co/qZJgE8pOQe
What is Karunaratne's record like?
With the string of low scores bringing down his average below 40, Karunaratne has so far racked up 7,172 Test runs, the fourth-most from his country. His tally of 16 Test tons are the joint-fourth most by a Sri Lanka batter alongside Tillakaratne Dilshan, Dinesh Chandimal and Angelo Mathews.
On Thursday, he will become the seventh Sri Lanka cricketer to achieve the 100th Test landmark after current head coach Sanath Jayasuriya (110), Muttiah Muralidaran (132), Chaminda Vaas (111), Kumar Sangakkara (134), Mahela Jayawardena (149), and Mathews (117).
The southpaw has captained Sri Lanka in 30 Tests, winning 12 and losing as many, while drawing six matches. Karunaratne has been Sri Lanka’s leading run-getter in the World Test Championship, with 2592 runs at an average of 41.14, including six hundreds and 16 fifties.
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