Dimuth stars despite Sri Lanka’s heavy loss

Rex Clementine in Bangalore

Sri Lanka’s batsmen have not covered themselves in glory in the two match Test series against India but skipper Dimuth Karunaratne did enough to redeem himself and ensured the team scored 200 runs in an innings at least once with a spectacular hundred. His effort couldn’t save Sri Lanka from an embarrassing 238 run defeat inside three days here at Chinnaswamy Stadium but there was assurance that the team at least had one classy batsman.

Karunaratne was the third highest run getter in Test cricket last year and if yesterday’s knock on a wearing pitch against a quality attack is any indication, he should hit a purple patch this year as well.

It was his 14th Test hundred and the first in India. His previous best score in India was 51 and this knock was evidence that he had come to terms with SG ball and more importantly his average in Test cricket touched 40 for the first time. He’s now equaled Sanath Jayasuriya with the number of hundreds scored and only five other Sri Lankans have scored more hundreds than him.

Having been set an improbable target of 447, Sri Lanka resumed day three on 28 for one. Kusal Mendis was on song driving beautifully and was a treat to watch as he raced to his half-century with eight elegant boundaries.

When Mendis is in the mood, there aren’t too many better things in cricket to watch. But the frustration is that he throws away the wicket after being set. Yesterday, he gave Ravindra Jadeja the charge, a dangerous ploy on a wicket that had plenty of turn, missed and was stumped.

Mendis and Dimuth had added 97 runs for the second wicket, Sri Lanka’s highest partnership in the series. There was some fight by the tourists in the first hour in a game dominated by the Indians. You sensed that India only needed one wicket to put Sri Lanka under pressure again and that exactly what happened as three wickets fell for eight runs. Angelo Mathews (1) and Dhananjaya de Silva (4) dismissals early ensured the game would end in three days.

There was a 55 run stand for the fifth wicket between Nirosahn Dickwella and Dimuth. The captain reached three figures by flicking Jasprit Bumrah for four. He eventually fell for Bumrah on 107 when he was bowled through the gate.

Dimuth batted for 226 minutes, faced 174 deliveries and hit 15 boundaries.

There was not much resistance from the tail as Sri Lanka lost their last four wickets for four runs to suffer a heavy 2-0 series defeat. India had won the first Test in Mohali by an innings and 222 runs.