Rankings improvement the chief ambition for Dimuth Karunaratne's Sri Lanka

After the recent annual update in the rankings, Sri Lanka find themselves at No.5 in Tests and No.8 in ODIs. Karunaratne aims to lead Sri Lanka into the top four spots in both formats as he believes that a team good enough to be in that bracket will have an implied advantage at multi-team events.

"Rankings, Rankings and Rankings is the key word," Karunaratne insisted. "I’d say Sri Lanka needs to be in the top four of not just ODI Cricket, but Test Cricket as well.

"That would indirectly mean semifinalists to say the least and you are perhaps two games away from the plum. There onwards, it’s anybody's guess and if you do well on your day you could end up being World Champions."

Karunaratne has been one of the most successful Test openers in recent times. Since the start of 2018, he has scored 1,352 runs at an average of 40.96 – among openers, only Tom Latham has aggregated more in that period.

However, Karunaratne has failed to correct his modest conversion rate during that period, with only two of his 12 fifty-plus scores blossoming into centuries. Overall, the 32-year-old has nine Test tons and 24 fifties. The captain isn't too fussed about that aspect since he feels he is still improving and has eyes set on personal milestones that will rise him into the pantheon of true Test greats.

"I have nine centuries from 66 test matches, while many will argue that I should or could have converted some of the 24 half-centuries I scored into centuries, thus increasing my overall tally of centuries. However, I am learning from each game. Test Cricket is super supreme and it’s certainly not a walk in the park! The stretched goal is 25 centuries and a fifty-plus average."