Sri Lanka Test skipper Dimuth Karunaratne said that the batting unit of the Sri Lanka team could not cope with the Indian bowling and our bowlers bowled too many loose deliveries now and then. That’s what we need to work on in the future. The experienced opener Karunartatne who made the only century of this two-match series said after the day-night Test defeat that he would have been happier if the team had won the second Test, “we batted in the light and it was tough for the team. I worked hard on my batting and I felt that we can play big innings.”
The skipper also mentioned retiring paceman Suranga Lakmal and said that it was special playing with him and wished him luck for the upcoming county season.
Karunaratne scored 107 runs in the middle of India’s deadly bowling on the third day. Batting against seamers like Jaspit Bumrah, Mohammad Sami, and experienced spinners Ashwin and Jadeja was not an easy task. His fighting 107 came in 174 balls with the help of 15 fours. Along with this, Karunaratne has many big records in his name. This is Dimuth Karunaratne’s 14th century in his Test career. With this, he has become the second-highest opening batsman to score a century in Tests for Sri Lanka. In this case, he left behind the legendary batsman Sanath Jayasuriya. Jayasuriya had scored 13 centuries in Test as an opener. Former captain Marvan Atapattu is number one on this list, having scored a total of 16 centuries. At the same time, this is Dimuth Karunaratne’s second century in a Day-Night Test. With this, he became the joint second-highest century-scorer in the Day-Night Tests. Australia’s Marnus Labuschagne is number one on this list. Labuschagne has so far scored three centuries in the Day-Night Tests. In addition, Karunaratne is the first opener to score a century in the fourth innings of a day-night Test as well as the first captain to score a century in the fourth innings of a day-night Test. Karunaratne’s 14th century brought his tally to 5620 runs in 76 test matches and he has already passed Tilan Samaraweera (5462), Tillakaratne Dilshan (5492), and Marvan Atapattu (5502). He is the sixth-best Sri Lankan scorer while Sangakkara is on top with 12, 400 runs followed by Mahela Jayawardena (11814), Sanath Jayasuriya (6973), Angelo Matthews(6432), and Aravinda de Silva (6361).
Former cricketers hail Dimuth’s fighting century
Sri Lankan captain Dimuth Karunaratne showed some fighting spirit en route to a stunning century on a difficult batting surface at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. Several former cricketers made their comments on their Twitter pages. Former Sri Lankan cricketer and present International commentator Russel Arnold said “One of the finest hundreds you will ever see while former Sri Lankan skipper Kumar Sangakkara also said Extraordinary 100 by Dimuth Karunaratne on a pitch that was incredibly difficult. This knock had class and temperament added Sangakkara. Former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan said” Solid century by Dimuth on this turning track as an overseas batsman.
