Former Sri Lanka skipper to retire after second Australia Test
Sri Lanka opener Dimuth Karunaratne has decided to call time on his career after the second Galle , which will also be his 100th Test.
Dimuth Karunaratne has announced his decision to retire from international cricket following the second Test match against Australia in Galle.
Speaking on his retirement, Karunaratne told ESPNcricinfo,
"After the first Test against Australia ended, I told SLC [Sri Lanka Cricket] that the next Test would be my last
"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," Karunaratne said.
The 36-year-old steps away from the game after a prolific career, though runs dried up of late with only 182 runs coming in his last seven Test matches, with a solitary half-century coming in September 2024 against New Zealand.
This match will also mark his 100th Test appearance, a significant milestone in any Test cricketer’s career, following in the footsteps of Sanath Jayasuriya, Muthiah Muralidaran, Chaminda Vaas, Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara and Angelo Mathews.
“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,” Karunaratne told ESPNcricinfo.
The left-hand batter also opened up on one of his biggest regrets in his career - never appearing in a World Test Championship Final.
“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.”
Sri Lanka's Test captain has come into the ODI team to play a starring role on the Cricket World Cup Qualification path.
Karunaratne made his Test debut in 2012 at Galle, scoring a duck and an unbeaten 60 against New Zealand.
Since then, Karunaratne has established himself as one of the pillars of Sri Lankan cricket, amassing 7,172 runs across 99 Test matches, including 16 centuries.
His highest Test score of 244 came against Bangladesh in 2021, and he holds the record for being among the batters who have recorded a duck and a hundred in the very same Test match.
Karunaratne led Sri Lanka in 30 tests from 2019 until 2024. He was nominated for the ICC Test Player of the Year Award in 2021, and was also included in the World Test XI by the ICC in 2021 for being the third-highest run-scorer in the format with 902 runs, including four blistering centuries at a mammoth average of 69.38.
In addition to his Test achievements, Karunaratne has featured in 50 ODIs for the island nation.