The curious case of Dimuth Karunaratne

By Rex Clementine

With Murali already gone and several seniors on their way out, the selectors in 2011 felt the need to phase them out. Lead up to Sri Lanka’s tour of England that year, the national selection panel introduced two young players to the set up. They were 23-year-old Dimuth Karunaratne and 21-year-old Lahiru Thirimanne.

The press were told at that time that the selectors had identified Thirimanne as a long format player and Karunaratne as a white ball player. Hence, Thirimanne toured with the Test squad and in fact made his debut at Rose Bowl with captain T.M. Dilshan was injured.

Karunaratne joined the touring party later with the white ball specialists and went onto debut at Old Trafford.

Strangely, it is as a Test match specialist that Karunaratne has made a name for himself nowadays. He has featured in 85 Tests and he is the fifth highest run getter for Sri Lanka. Comparatively, he has played in only 40 ODIs, and could be involved in his third World Cup! How is that even possible?

It’s all confusing how we have managed our players. There is very little planning and we tend to fix issues when there’s an urgent need. But once the issue is sorted, we tend to go back to experimenting again and it’s back to square one. There is very little continuity or perseverance. With better planning we could have overcome some of the crises that we are currently faced with.

Sri Lanka cruised to the second round of World Cup Qualifiers on Sunday but still aren’t out of the woods, especially with West Indies losing to Zimbabwe. There are only two spots remaining for the World Cup and three teams – Sri Lanka along with West Indies and Zimbabwe – are vying for them.

As for Karunaratne, he’s been a godsend for the ODI side notching up five scores of more than 50 in a row and scoring his maiden hundred in his last innings.

Interestingly, after the 2015 World Cup, he was axed from the side. He didn’t play a single ODI in the next four years but was recalled for the 2019 edition of the tournament in England and Wales. Not only as an opening bat but as captain as well for there were deep divisions within the team.

Several seniors had revolted against a fast bowler who was leading the side and the selectors were left with Hobson’s choice but to pick someone who earned the respect of all the players.

It is not only for his leadership qualities that Karunaratne was back in the squad, but the team was struggling to bat out the 50 overs. With him back at the helm, that problem was sorted. More importantly, the team was gelling well under his leadership.

However, two years later, he gets the sack again conveniently forgetting that the team has an issue with not utilizing the quota of 50 overs. Old problems resurface and the selectors are left with little choice but to fall back on one of the most sensible men in cricket. Since the recall, he has been rock solid.

Had Karunaratne not been sacked, Sri Lanka would have saved the embarrassment of playing yet another qualifying round. Embarrassment because a country that has won a World Cup and reached finals in 2007 and 2011 shouldn’t be playing a qualifying round while Afghanistan and Bangladesh have gone through.