Sri Lanka vs West Indies, 1st Test Stats Review: Dimuth Karunaratne shines with the bat, West Indies' poor form in Tests continue

Dimuth Karunratne, the skipper of the Sri Lankan Test team, shone with the bat as he scored 230 runs in two innings to help his side in taking a 1-0 lead in the two-match Test series. After suffering a 2-0 series whitewash loss to England earlier this year at home, Sri Lanka won 1-0 (2) against Bangladesh later in April and is now leading the series 1-0 against the Caribbean team.

Dimuth Karunaratne is enjoying a terrific year in Tests as has accumulated 854 runs only behind Joe Root and Rohit Sharma in the tally. He has also smashed four centuries in this calendar year, only behind Joe Root’s record of six tons. Spinners Ramesh Mendis, Praveen Jayawickrama, and Lasith Embuldeniya gave equal support to their captain as they took 18 wickets in total between them to give West Indies a thrashing and help their side in taking a 1-0 lead in the series.

On the other hand, the West Indies’ poor show in Tests continued as they have now lost nine out of 12 away Tests since 2018. Except for Roston Chase’s 5-wicket haul in the first innings and Nkrumah Bonner and Joshua Da Silva’s valiant half-centuries in the second innings, nobody really put up a show in this Test as the Caribbean side’s bad form in Tests doesn’t look like ending any time soon.

Meanwhile, here are the important stats and numbers from Sri Lanka vs West Indies 1^st Test:

558 – Dimuth Karunaratne (5374) is 558 runs shy of reaching Sanath Jayasuriya’s tally of 5932 runs as an opener for Sri Lanka in Tests.

4 – Dimuth Karunaratne scored his fourth century in Tests this year. He is only behind England captain Joe Root who has smashed six tons in 2021.

4 – Dimuth Karunaratne recorded 4^th ton in Tests this year. He just needs one century to equal the Sri Lankan legend Mahela Jayawardene for scoring most hundreds as a captain in a calendar year. Jayawardene scored five centuries in the year 2007.

12 – Lasith Embuldeniya took the 50^th Test wicket in his 12^th match equaling Ajantha Mendis. Dilruwan Perara achieved the same feat in 11 matches as he is the quickest to 50 scalps by a Sri Lankan in Tests.

854 – Angelo Mathews tops the list for scoring most runs (1160) as a Sri Lankan captain in Tests in a calendar year. Mahela Jayawardene achieved the feat twice 983 runs (2006) and 982 runs (2007). Dimuth Karunaratne is behind them with 854 runs in 2021.

21 – Lasith Embuldeniya (21) is third behind India’s duo of R Ashwin (32) and Axar Patel (27) for taking the most wickets by a spinner in Tests in 2021 at home.

9 – West Indies lost their 9^th away Test out of 12 since 2018.

10 – West Indies lost their 10^th Test against the island nation. They have won only four and drawn nine times out of total 23 Tests.

4 – The Caribbean team lost the 4^th Test this year equaling Zimbabwe. Only England have lost more Tests (6) in 2021.

7 – Dimuth Karunaratne equaled Joe Root for scoring the most 50+ scores (7) in Tests this year.

77.63 – Dimuth Karunaratne’s average in Tests in 2021. He is behind New Zealand’s Kane Williamson (88.25) for a batter who has played a minimum of 4 Tests this year.