Sri Lankan opening batter Dimuth Karunaratne’s maiden hundred in his 40th ODI in Group B, ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier against Ireland at Bulawayo won the heart of his childhood coach and mentor Harsha De Silva.

On Sunday, Dimuth scored 103 runs and won the Player of the match award.

Former first-class all-rounder Harsha De Silva, who coached Sri Lanka's national women's team is a Josephican and has mentored Test skipper Dimuth Karunaratne, who also happened to be a student of St. Joseph College.

Speaking exclusively over the telephone from Australia, where Harsha de Silva resides now, said, "Before this (ODI) call back from the selectors, Dimuth played and even captained Sri Lanka in an ODI World Cup. So, there’s no doubt he is suited for white ball cricket.”

"He has proved with the bat that the selectors got it wrong to keep him out of ODI’s for 2 years. Even with this selection, he was added overnight as the 31st player to the preliminary squad for the qualifiers.”

"Personally, I would prefer him to focus on Test and ODI as his style of play suits these 2 formats of the game. But, he could prove us wrong if he’s given a chance in T20s.”

"I would be disappointed if he’s not selected to the WC Squad with the current form he’s in,” the coach signed off.