GALLE: The big difference between victory and defeat in the first Test between Sri Lanka and South Africa at the Galle International Stadium was the contribution made by opener Dimuth Karunaratne in both innings of the match.
It was Karunaratne’s monumental unbeaten innings of 158 that largely contributed towards Sri Lanka’s first innings total of 287 after they were reduced to 176-8 and he was again his team’s highest scorer in the second innings with 60 when Sri Lanka was bowled out for 190.
The next highest score in the match was 49 by South African captain Faf du Plessis. So it was easy to see how Sri Lanka ran out easy winners by 287 runs.
Karunaratne deservedly won the Man of the Match award for his two contributions on a pitch which all the other batsmen failed to come to terms with.
“The biggest thing is that I am always looking for runs and trying to bat positively. Often my strike rate is in the 70s - like it was in this match. When you are playing spin you need to have a defence, but more than that you have to dominate the spinners before they dominate you,” said Karunaratne.
“When you are playing spin if you give the bowlers a chance to dominate you, they will step all over you to avoid that I use my feet, and I’m trying to create scoring opportunities as much as I can. What I’m trying to do is make them bowl in areas that are good scoring zones for me.
“If you move around the crease and take a little risk when scoring those runs, you can get the bowlers to bowl where you want them to,” he said.
Karunaratne said he plays best when there is a challenge.
“I like the challenges the spinning Galle track offers you. I know that there is spin after those early overs, because Galle is anyway a spin-friendly track. I like that challenge, because it tests you. You get better when you face challenges like that. I think I’m applying my skill and doing well on turning tracks as well,” said Karunaratne.
“When I go to bat, I’m thinking of the first 15 overs because it’s in those overs that an opener has it tough. If you can get through that 15 overs, then you should know how to carry on. Rather than doing all the hard work and passing the job on to someone else, it’s better to build the innings yourself. As an opener if you want to score runs, that’s really important,” he said.
Karunaratne has scored hundreds against all Test playing nations except against England and Australia. Of his eight Test hundreds four have been over the 150 plus mark.
Karunaratne still feels he has a lot of work to do to get to where he wants to be.
“You can’t say I have a complete technique. We learn every day. When you play in New Zealand you need a lot of good technique. You have to learn to play straight and when there’s pace, you need to adjust your backlift as well. When you go to those countries you need to make those changes and adjustments,” said Karunaratne.
“On turning wickets, you don’t score a lot of runs straight, so you need to know which areas to score in. You can adjust to those things with your experience, and the style in which you play. In domestic cricket you get lots of turning wickets, so the more experience you get playing on those types of wickets. It’s that experience that has taught me what I need to do in different situations. I think I’ve matured since I first came into the team. But I’m not complete yet. The more I play, the better I will become, I feel,” he said.
Karunaratne is a great believer that the quicker you learn the quicker you rise.
“You should know when you face certain conditions how exactly you need to play there. Like we were tested in South Africa (on their fast and bouncy pitches), we test them here as well. If there’s something to learn, you have to do it outside your comfort zone. That’s how you become a good Test batsman,” said Karunaratne.
“There were runs in this (Galle) pitch - you just had to play positively and have self-belief. Even Suranga (Lakmal) and (Lakshan) Sandakan scored runs. When we went to South Africa - Thilan (Samaraweera) had scored runs there, as had Kumar Sangakkara. But what you need to learn quickly is how exactly you have to approach those different challenges. If you learn quickly, you rise quickly,” he said.
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