Since 2015, Karunaratne has been the leading batsman for Sri Lanka in Tests, having scored a century in the second innings of Test matches. Many commentators described him as a second-innings specialist. He scored four centuries in the second innings of the six centuries he scored up to October 2017. On 7 October 2017, Karunaratne became the second Sri Lanka opener after Tillakaratne Dilshan to score three Test centuries in a calendar year. In February 2019, he was appointed captain of Sri Lanka's Test team for their series against South Africa.

In April 2019, Sri Lanka Cricket named Dimuth Karunaratne as the new One Day International team captain ahead of the 2019 World Cricket Championship, replacing Lasith Malinga. He is the only batsman after Ridley Jacobs to carry his bat to a Cricket World Cup.

Personal Life and Domestic Career

Karunaratne attended St. Joseph's College Colombo, which has produced a number of Sri Lankan Test cricketers such as Angelo Mathews and Chaminda Vaas. He was a record-breaking batsman for the school's cricket team. After playing in Sri Lanka's under-19 and senior squads, he was called up to the senior One Day International (ODI) team for the series against England and Scotland in June and July 2011. He played in two matches on the tour, scoring four runs against England in Manchester and 60 against Scotland in Edinburgh. He was selected in Sri Lanka's Test squad for the tour of South Africa in late 2011, but did not play in any of the three Tests.

In March 2018, Karunaratne was named captain of Dambulla's squad for the 2017–18 Super Four Provincial Tournament. The following month, he was also named in Dambulla's squad for the 2018 Super Provincial One Day Tournament.

In August 2018, Karunaratne was named vice-captain of Galle's 2018 SLC T20 League squad.

In February 2019, Karunaratne signed with Hampshire County Cricket Club as an overseas player for the first half of the 2019 season.

On March 25, 2021, Karunaratne scored his 44th first-class century at the National Super Provincial 4-Day Tournament. He scored an unbeaten 125 points with 15 boundaries and one six. His knock helped reach the 218-run target and resulted in an eight-wicket win for the Colombo team.

In April 2022, Karunaratne was signed by Yorkshire County Cricket Club to play in three matches of the 2022 County Championship in England.

International Career
Start Time

Karunaratne was called up to the Test squad for the home Tests against New Zealand at the end of 2012. He got the opportunity because Tillakaratne Dilshan could not make the starting XI due to injury. He made his debut in the first Test of the series in Galle, only to score a duck in the first innings.

However, he came back strongly in the second innings with an unbeaten half-century and also scored the winning runs.

After the New Zealand series, Karunaratne was named in the Test squad to tour Australia for a series of three Test matches. He failed to make an impact during the first two Tests as he struggled against the Australian pace attack. In the final Test of the series in Sydney, Karunaratne managed to reach his highest Test score of 85 in the second innings.

His maiden Test century came against New Zealand on 28 December 2014 at Hagley Oval, Christchurch. In the second match of the series, when Sri Lanka were in deep trouble, he scored 152 runs off 363 balls. Despite his century, Sri Lanka lost the game.

Karunaratne was included in the original squad for the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup, but during a practice match against England he broke a bone in his right hand and was removed from the team after the match. He was replaced by Kusal Perera.

His second Test hundred came against Pakistan at Pallekele; he scored 133 runs in the first innings of the third game of the series. Just as Dimuth's first Test century was a lost cause, his second proved to be the same: Sri Lanka lost the match by 7 wickets.

Consistent Start

His highest score in Test cricket came in the first Test against West Indies in Galle in 2015. Dimuth scored 186 runs before being dismissed by the bowling of Marlon Samuels. Along with Dinesh Chandimal (who also scored a century), he recorded the highest third-wicket partnership in Galle by scoring 238 runs. Sri Lanka easily defeated the West Indies by an innings and 5 runs.

Karunaratne performed poorly at home against Australia. He was dismissed by Mitchell Starc in the first over of each innings. He scored just 41 runs in three games, including five single-digit scores, for a 6.83 average in six innings. Despite their poor performance, Sri Lanka defeated Australia for the first time 3-0.

Karunaratne was appointed captain of Sri Lanka A for the first two four-day home matches against West Indies A. He scored 131 in the first innings and 39* in the second innings to lead Sri Lanka A to a seven-wicket win. This strong comeback gave Karunaratne reason to be included in the Test team for the Zimbabwe tour at the end of October 2016.

Permanent Opener in Tests

During the first innings of the first Test against Zimbabwe, Karunaratne scored a fifty and during the second innings his fourth Test century. Sri Lanka won the match by 225 runs. In the second Test, he scored 88 runs in the second innings. With impressive bowling from captain Rangana Herath, Sri Lanka won the game by 257 runs and wrapped up the series 2-0. Karunaratne was named player of the series for his batting performance, scoring 280 runs at an average of 70.00.

Karunaratne picked up his first Test wicket by dismissing Indian batsman Cheteshwar Pujara during the second Test against India at the SSC. In the second innings of the same game, he scored his fifth Test century during a century partnership with Kusal Mendis. However, his century failed to force a result for Sri Lanka as they lost the match by an innings and 53 runs. This was the first time that India won a Test match by innings against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka lost all three games against India in this series.

Sri Lanka played their first day-night Test against Pakistan on October 6, 2017 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. Karunatane scored an impressive 196 innings and Sri Lanka scored 482 in their first innings. With his innings, Karunaratne became the first Sri Lankan to score 50, 100 and 150 in a day-night Test. He fell just four runs short of his maiden double century after fending off a short throw that came slightly off the seam and the ball caught his inside edge, hit his thigh pad and bounced into his stumps. However, in the second innings, Sri Lanka were bowled out for just 96 runs. With the help of the bowling unit, Sri Lanka won the game by 68 runs after a thrilling finish on the fifth day. For his batting performances throughout the series, Karunaratne was named player of the match for the second Test as well as player of the series.

During the first innings of the second Test against India in 2017, Karunaratne made a 1000 Test run at an average of 42.41. He became the second batsman to reach 1000 Test runs in 2017, after South African opener Dean Elgar. He also became the seventh Sri Lankan to score 1000 Test runs in a calendar year.

In May 2018, Karunaratne was one of 33 cricketers awarded a national contract by Sri Lanka Cricket ahead of the 2018–19 season.

On 12 July 2018, Karunaratne played his 50th Test match in the first Test against South Africa. He celebrated the game with a magnificent century. He scored an unbeaten 158 runs and became the fourth batsman for Sri Lanka to carry his bat in Tests after Sidath Wettimuny, Marvan Atapattu and Russell Arnold. He also became the third Sri Lankan after Sanath Jayasuriya and Tillakaratne Dilshan to score a hundred in their 50th Test. Sri Lanka won the game within three days while South Africa were dismissed with their lowest team total since readmission. Karunaratne scored 60 runs in the second innings, which is also the highest innings score for Sri Lanka.

During the match, Karunaratne scored 218 runs while South Africa scored a total of 199 runs in both innings. He was the only man to score more than 50 runs in the match, while all other 21 players scored no more than 40 runs. Due to his top-notch match-winning performances, he won the Man of the Match award. He continued his best form in the second Test where he scored fifties in both innings for Sri Lanka with 53 and 85 respectively. Finally, Sri Lanka won the second Test by 199 runs and sealed the series 2-0. Due to his impressive batting performance throughout the series, he won the Man of the Match and Player of the Series awards. For his performances in 2018, he was named in the World Test XI by the ICC and ESPNCricinfo.

Blow on the Head 2019

During the second Test in Canberra, he suffered a blow to the neck when he failed to avoid a 142km/h Pat Cummins bouncer. He lay almost motionless as medical staff examined him and eventually carried him off the field for medical attention. Both Sri Lankan and Australian physiotherapists arrived on site to provide support. He was taken to hospital for further tests. After a medical examination, he was discharged from the hospital late Saturday evening and given permission to bat again. The next day, after Kusal Perera was injured by another bouncer from Jhye Richardson, Karunaratne came onto the field to play his innings. He reached his 22nd Test 50 and made 59 runs. He scored 8 runs in the second innings and Sri Lanka lost the match and the series 2-0.

Captain

Due to poor performances during the New Zealand and Australia tours, Dinesh Chandimal was left out of the Test squad for the South Africa tour. Karunaratne was named stand-in captain for the tour while Chandimal was released to play domestic cricket and get back into form with the bat. On 13 February 2019, Karunaratne became the 17th Test captain for Sri Lanka. Under his captaincy, Sri Lanka won the match by a one-wicket margin, thanks to Kusal Perera's unbeaten century. During the match, during South Africa's first innings, an apparent DRS timing error cost Sri Lanka a wicket of Hashim Amla. Vishwa Fernando tapped Amla on the pads to make a confident appeal for LBW. Umpire Aleem Dar was unmoved and after a brief discussion, Sri Lanka captain Karunaratne asked for a review - but Dar rejected the request, saying the visitors had taken too long to ask. However, commenters confirmed that it only took 13 seconds when Karunaratne asked for the review.

Sri Lanka comfortably won the second game in Port Elizabeth and sealed the series 2-0. This was also Sri Lanka's fourth consecutive win against South Africa. With this victory, Sri Lanka became the first Asian team to win a Test series in South Africa and finished third in the standings after England and Australia. In March 2019, Karunaratne was arrested over a drunk driving incident in Colombo in which another motorist was injured, and was later released on bail. He was fined and Sri Lanka Cricket took no further action regarding the incident. The following month, he was named captain of the Sri Lanka squad for the 2019 Cricket World Cup.

His first tour as an ODI captain came on a tour of Scotland in 2019 before the World Cup. The first ODI was washed out due to rain. However, in the second ODI, he scored his first ODI 50 with 77 runs. Sri Lanka scored 321 in 50 overs and Scotland were eventually bowled out for 199. Sri Lanka won the match by 35 runs using DLS.

On 1 June 2019, in Sri Lanka's first match in the Cricket World Cup, Karunaratne became the second cricketer to carry his bat in a World Cup match.

Sri Lanka finished the tournament sixth in the table with 3 wins, 4 losses and 2 abandoned games. In the first Test match against New Zealand in August 2019, Karunaratne scored a match-winning century in the fourth innings, reaching a target of 267. This is the first time that a team has successfully achieved a target of more than 100 in the fourth innings also at the Galle Stadium. New Zealand recorded 267 runs in their second innings to win the match, with Karunaratne providing a strong opening partnership of 161 runs along with Lahiru Thirimanne. This stand is only the second instance of the opening partnership scoring more than 150 runs in the fourth innings of a Test match in Asia. He is the third Sri Lankan opener after Kusal Mendis and Sanath Jayasuriya to score a century in the fourth innings. Karunaratne won the Man of the Match award for his match-winning performances. However, New Zealand won the second Test at the P. Sara Oval and leveled the series 1-1. During the West Indies tour of Sri Lanka in 2020, the Sri Lanka team under Karunaratne's captaincy successfully whitewashed the West Indies in the ODI series. It was their second ODI whitewash in a row.

On 6 January 2021, during the second Test in the South African series, Karunaratne scored his 10th Test century in a difficult situation. This was his first Test century in almost a year, with his last big score coming against New Zealand in 2019. He hit 19 boundaries in his innings. Despite their captain's innings, Sri Lanka lost the game by 10 wickets and lost the series 2-0. In February 2021, Karunaratne was named in Sri Lanka's Twenty20 International (T20I) squad for the series against the West Indies.

In April 2021, in the first Test against Bangladesh, Karunaratne scored his first double century in Test cricket. Karunaratne batted throughout the fourth day against Dhananjaya De Silva, who scored his 7th Test century without giving the Bangladesh team a wicket and put up a strong partnership of 345 runs to put Sri Lanka in a safe position. Their partnership is the highest partnership of any wicket in a Test match in Kandy. Karunaratne marathoned his way through Sri Lanka's 11-hour innings. His double century run of 244 is the 10th highest individual score in Test cricket for Sri Lanka. Eventually the game ended in a draw and Karunaratne was named player of the match for his performance.

In the second Test of the series against Bangladesh, Karunaratne became the tenth batsman for Sri Lanka to score 5,000 runs in Test cricket. The pair of Karunaratne and Lahiru Thirimanne scored 209 runs, Sri Lanka's first over 200 runs since 2011 and the country's first in 21 years. The partnership also marks the couple's third turn of the century in a row. Karunaratne scored his 12th Test century. He made 118 off 190 balls, hitting 15 boundaries. Thanks to Thirimanne's century, Sri Lanka posted a respectable total of 493 in the first innings and later Karunaratne scored a whopping 66 runs in the second innings. Sri Lanka eventually won the match by 202 runs and won the series 1-0. He was named player of the series for his batting performances.

On 21 November 2021, the first Test match against West Indies, Karunaratne scored his 13th Test century. He scored 147 runs off 300 balls in the first innings and 83 runs off 103 balls in the second innings. Ultimately, Sri Lanka won the game by 187 runs and Karunaratne was named player of the match for his performance. Karunaratne is the third highest Test run-scorer in 2021, scoring 902 runs in 13 innings at an average of 69.38, including four centuries and three half-centuries. His brilliant batting performances saw him nominated for the ICC's 2021 Test Cricketer of the Year award. Karunaratne was named to the World Test XI in 2021 by the ICC for his performances throughout the year.

On 14 March 2022, Karunaratne scored his 14th Test century in the second Test match against India. His second Test century against India was also the second Test century in the Day and Night Test. Karunaratne is only the second visiting opener to score a century in the fourth innings in India. Karunaratne equaled the record for most Test centuries by a batsman in both day and night Tests. He scored 107 runs from 174 deliveries and hit 15 boundaries. He became the third Sri Lanka captain to score a Test century in India. His efforts were in vain as Sri Lanka lost the match by 238 runs. His performance saw him ranked fifth in the ICC Test batting rankings as Batman.

His good form continued in the next Test series against Bangladesh in March 2022. He scored two half-centuries in the series and Sri Lanka won the series 2-0. In the Australian Test series in July 2022, Sri Lanka suffered a heavy defeat under Karunaratne, with the match ending after three days. However, on 9 July 2022, he scored 86 runs in a partnership of 152 with Kusal Mendis, laying a solid foundation in the first innings of the second Test against Australia. Later, thanks to Dinesh Chandimal's double hundred, Sri Lanka posted a total of 554. Eventually, Sri Lanka won the match by an innings and 39 runs, marking Sri Lanka's first innings win in Test cricket against Australia. The series eventually ended in a 1-1 draw, with the Warne-Murali split.

On 27 July 2022, Karunaratne scored 6000 Test runs in the Pakistan series, reaching his 31st Test half. He became the sixth Sri Lankan Batman to achieve this milestone. Aided by Dhananjaya De Silva's century, Sri Lanka won the match by 246 runs.

During the first Test match against New Zealand, Karunaratne scored his 32nd Test half-century and became the top run-scorer as the Sri Lanka Test opener. Dimuth Karunaratne overtook Sanath Jayasuriya's 5932 runs as an opener for Sri Lanka.

During the second Test match, Karunaratne scored half-centuries in both innings. He scored 89 runs in the first innings and 51 runs in the second innings. Despite their setback, Sri Lanka lost the game. Dimuth Karunaratne is the third highest run-scorer in the series with 207 runs in 4 innings at an average of 51.75, including three half-centuries.

Based on his performances, Karunaratne was selected for Wisden's World Test Championship XI: WTC 2021-2023. He is the second-highest run-scorer among openers overall.

On 16 April 2023, the first Test match against Ireland, Karunaratne scored his 15th Test century. He is the first Test cricketer from Sri Lanka to score a Test hundred against Ireland. He scored 179 runs off 235 balls, hitting 15 boundaries. He also formed a 281-run partnership for the second wicket with Kusal Mendis. Finally, Sri Lanka won the game by an innings and 280 runs.

During the second Test match against Ireland, Karunaratne scored his 16th Test century. It was his fastest Test century in his career. He scored 115 runs from 133 deliveries and hit 15 boundaries. From that knock onwards, Karunaratne equaled the record for most Test hundreds as an opener among Sri Lankan players. With this knock, Karunaratne equaled Marvan Atapattu's record of 16 Test tons. He also formed a strong 228-run opening partnership with Nishan Madushka. Dimuth Karunaratne is the second highest run-scorer in the series with 294 runs in two innings and an average of 147. Finally, Sri Lanka won the match by an innings and 10 runs and won the series.

Dimuth Karunaratne has been named in Sri Lanka's ODI squad for the ODI series against Afghanistan, more than two years after his last appearance in the ODI format. He performed consistently in the series, scoring 112 runs in three games, including two half-centuries, at an average of 56.
On June 19, 2023, Karunaratne scored his 9th ODI half century against UAE. He scored 52 runs off 54 balls and opened the 95-run partnership with Pathum Nissanka. Finally, Sri Lanka won the game by 175 runs.

On June 23, 2023, Karunaratne scored his 10th ODI half-century against Oman. Sri Lanka's bowlers restricted the Oman team to 98 runs and Sri Lanka chased the target with 10 wicket wins.

On June 25, 2023, Karunaratne scored his first ODI century against Ireland. He scored 103 runs off 103 balls, hitting eight boundaries. Finally, with the help of the bowling department, Sri Lanka won the game by 133 runs. Due to his performance, Karunaratne was adjudged the player of the match.

On 7 July 2023, in the qualifier against West Indies, Karunaratne scored his 11th ODI half-century. He scored 83 runs off 92 balls and hit 7 boundaries. He also formed a strong 190-run opening partnership with Pathum Nissanka. Finally, Sri Lanka won the game by 8 wickets. He was then named in Sri Lanka's squad for the 2023 Asia Cup. This is Karunaratne's first appearance at the Asian Cup.

List of International Centuries

As of April 2022, Karunaratne has scored fourteen centuries in Test matches.