Stats: Dimuth Karunaratne jumps to second spot for most runs by Sri Lankan openers in Tests

Dimuth Karunaratne, the Sri Lankan Test skipper is having a dream run in the longest format this year. His excellent form continued in the ongoing first Test against West Indies as he surpassed Marvan Atapattu and is now the second batter for scoring most runs as an opener for Sri Lanka in Tests. Dimuth Karunaratne is 558 runs away from taking that top spot currently held by the legendary Lankan Sanath Jayasuriya.

Making his debut back in 2012, Dimuth was always seen as a Test match specialist batter with his style of playing which suits the format. Speaking of performing in the whites, Dimuth is eighth on the list for scoring 13 centuries for his country. He is two tons away from overtaking Sanath Jayasuriya and Thilan Samaraweera’s tally of 14 hundred. Dimuth has scored all his 13 centuries as an opener equaling him with Lankan southpaw Jayasuriya and which also makes him just 4 short of the number one batter in the list, Marvan Atapattu, who has 16 tons to his name.

Most runs as an opener for Sri Lanka in Tests:

Speaking of Karunaratne performing outstandingly in this calendar year, he is just third behind Joe Root (1455), who himself is on another level in Tests this year, and India’s Rohit Sharma (906) with 854 runs. Talking about centuries this year, Joe Root has bagged 6 tons with Karunratne scoring 4 and is second behind the England captain. Dimuth is joint-top with Joe Root for smashing seven 50+ scores in the Test matches in 2021.

Most 50+ scores in Tests in 2021:

Dimuth Karunaratne as an opener is also having the third-best average (40.71) for a batter who has played a minimum of 30 Tests, only behind Lankan greats Sanath Jayasuriya and Marvan Atapattu. The Sri Lankan captain would like to continue his golden form in the second Test against the Caribbean side as well and finish this year on a high.