OTD Sri Lankan left-hand opener Dimuth Karunaratne was born in 1988

In this article, we will discuss On This Day Sri Lankan left-hand opener Dimuth Karunaratne was born in 1988. Dimuth Karunaratne is a dependable left-handed opening batter, hailing from the same St Joseph’s College team that produced Angelo Mathews and Thisara Perera, with whom he also played in the Sri Lanka Under-19 side. It was on this day when the southpaw was born at Colombo on April 21. Karunaratne began his first-class career with Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) in 2008, but had a relatively subdued first season, predominantly batting in the middle order.

In 2009, he cemented his position in the top order and started to achieve more consistent scores. His first-class century, scored against Colts Cricket Club, marked the beginning of a remarkable season where he amassed 1186 runs at an impressive average of 56.54. His outstanding performance earned him a selection for the Sri Lanka A team against South Africa A, where he continued to impress by scoring 184 runs against a formidable bowling attack that included Vernon Philander.

Since his second season, Karunaratne has not replicated the same volume of runs but has gained a reputation for crafting substantial centuries against formidable bowling attacks. He made appearances in two ODIs for Sri Lanka in 2011, scoring 4 and 60 runs respectively. Later that year, he was also included in the Test squad for the tour to South Africa, although he did not feature in any matches.

In July 2012, Karunaratne toured South Africa again with the A team, impressing with scores of 83 and an unbeaten 150. Following this performance, he found himself on the brink of a Test debut when he was selected to open alongside his SSC partner Tharanga Paranavitana in place of the injured Tillakaratne Dilshan for the Test match against New Zealand in Galle.

In his career so far, the left-hand batter has played 91 Test and has scored 6899 runs with an average of 41.31 and a highest individual score of 244 runs. In addition to it, he has also 16 hundreds as well as 1 double hundred to his name.