Sri Lankan cricket team’s one of the stalwart opener Dimuth Karunaratne has decided to hang his boots from Test arena. The crafty left handed batter will play 2nd Test match against Australia commencing from 6th February at Galle and then retire from format. Dimuth Karunaratne managed only 7 runs in 1st Test against Australia and wasn’t in his great form.
Dimuth Karunaratne’s decision to announce his retirement might also be because Sri Lanka are about to play only 2 Test matches till May 2026 after this ongoing Test series against Australia. The 36 year old batter isn’t a part of white ball setup as his performance over the last 14 months was a bit below par. Dimuth Karunaratne had averaged 27.07 since 2024 which also might be a reason to take this step.
It will be nice to finish Test career at Galle where I made my debut- Dimuth Karunaratne
Dimuth Karunaratne was having an interaction with ESPNcricinfo. Dimuth Karunaratne made it very much clear that there are 3-4 youngsters who could come for next WTC cycle. Dimuth Karunaratne pointed out that playing his 100th Test match is a tough thing to accomplish. Dimuth revealed he wanted to get to the milestone of 10,000 runs but couldn’t get due to Sri Lanka not playing many Tests.
“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,” said Dimuth Karunaratne.
“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,” he stated.
“I’d also have loved to make it to a World Test Championship final and experience that feeling of being in a final. We were close twice, but it never happened. I’ll take a bit of a break for myself after spending so many years playing cricket. I’d like to get involved again,” he added.
Dimuth Karunaratne a true champion
Dimuth Karunaratne holds a unique & rare feat to his name. Dimuth was the skipper for 2019 Test series against South Africa in South Africa. Against all odds, the island nation had won the Test series by 2-0 against a side which had Faf du Plessis & Dale Steyn. In accomplishing this, Sri Lanka is the only Asian Test nation to win a Test series in South Africa till now.
Dimuth Karunaratne amassed over 7000 Test runs at an average of 39.99 as an opener. He had struck 16 tons & 39 half centuries in his career. Dimuth Karunaratne is set to become the 7th Sri Lankan cricketer to play 100 Tests; Sanath Jayasuriya (*current head coach of Sri Lanka), Muttiah Muralidaran, Chaminda Vaas, Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara & Angelo Mathews.