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Sri Lanka opener Karunaratne to retire

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Feb 4, 2025Cricket

Dimuth Karunaratne will bow out of Test cricket this week, the Sri Lanka opener has announced. 

Former Sri Lanka captain Karunaratne will feature in his 100th and final Test of a glittering career when his team take on Australia in Galle later this week.

Karunaratne oversaw 30 Tests as skipper between 2019 and 2023, winning 12 of them.

Since making his debut in the longest format in November 2012, Karunaratne has scored 7,172 runs.

Speaking to ESPNcricinfo, Karunaratne said: "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 their series with Australia concludes, Sri Lanka are only due to play two more Tests before May 2026.

Karunaratne believes that is a factor in him falling short of a goal he set himself, to score 10,000 Test runs, something that Australia's Steve Smith achieved in the first Test against Sri Lanka last week.

He added: "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-19 hit, and Sri Lanka don't play as many Tests anymore.

"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."

Since the start of 2024, Karunaratne has only averaged 27.05 across 11 Tests.

His top score in that time came against Afghanistan in February last year, when he hit 109.

The 36-year-old's highest score was 244, which he plundered against Bangladesh in April 2021.