Picking a successor to Dimuth Karunaratne

Wednesday, 19 March 2025 00:18 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Several inheritors to position

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

The retirement of Dimuth Karunaratne at the end of the two-Test series against Australia last month has opened up a slot in the Sri Lanka Test batting line-up for an opening batsman.

With Pathum Nissanka securing one of the openers berth, the hunt is now on for someone to partner him.

The recently concluded Major Club 3-day tournament threw up a few names like Ron Chandraguptha (30), Lahiru Udara (31) and Lasith Croospulle (26) all of whom had been selected to play for Sri Lanka ‘A’ at some time or another with Croospulle and Udara having won their national caps in T20I cricket.

They also scored heavily in the Major Club 3-day tournament, each topping 700 runs. Chandraguptha could not have picked a better stage to make the highest score of the season – 237 for Bloomfield against NCC in the Major Club 4-day final which his club won. Udara, the other batsman to make a double hundred – 206 for NCC came close to being picked in the national side when he was named in the Test squad against Australia.

The ongoing National Super League 4-day tournament which is the guideline for picking the national Test squad, Sri Lanka ‘A’ squad and Emerging squad gives these players further opportunities to put forward their credentials to make the cut.

Sri Lanka won’t have a Test match until June, but in mid-April they will travel to Abu Dhabi to take part in a one-day tri-nation series involving host Afghanistan and Ireland, and a one-off 4-day unofficial test against Afghanistan. Sri Lanka ‘A’ also has a tour to Australia in August-September. The Emerging team has a tour to the West Indies in June-July and will take part in the ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup in October. Two other contenders for the position Oshada Fernando (32) and Nishan Madushka (25) have been given several opportunities as opener and have partnered Karunaratne in Test cricket, but have not been able to grab them and cement their place in the side permanently due to inconsistent performances.

Madushka has opened in 9 of the 10 Tests he’s played so far and apart from scoring a double century against Ireland has only two scores above fifty in 16 innings.

Oshada on the other hand, has opened the batting in 11 of the 22 Tests he’s played and scored a solitary century and 3 fifties in 21 innings. These are two players who have been tried and tested at the highest level. Both batsmen had rather ordinary seasons in the Major Club 3-day tournament – Oshada turning out for Panadura SC scoring 470 runs in 13 innings at an average of 36.15 with 4 fifties and Madushka 151 runs (avg. 18.87) from 8 innings with one century for CCC. The NSL 4-day tournament is another opportunity for them to make their mark and catch the eyes of the selectors.

Karunaratne retired as the most successful opening batsman for Sri Lanka in Test cricket having played 100 Tests and scoring 7222 runs as an opener with 16 centuries. His 54 fifty-plus scores as a Test opener is the most for Sri Lanka.

Filling Karunaratne’s shoes is not going to be an easy task for anyone.

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