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Dimuth Karunaratne - a dependable opener
In the past few years, Sri Lanka have tried many openers and many opening combinations but nothing seemed to have worked. As they would expose the fragile middle-order very early in the piece thus leading to many batting collapses for Sri Lanka.
But Sri Lanka persisted with Dimuth Karunaratne and he has delivered on the promise. Even in the series whitewash at home, his batting was a big positive which Sri Lanka could carry forward. His ability to bat solidly, bat long hours and score at a decent pace has led to his growth as a batsman.
And that was clearly evident in the series win in the UAE where he was the man of the series with a total tally of 306 runs which included a fantastic knock of 196 runs. He has always said that he wanted to take on more responsibility and spend more time in the middle.
He did that with aplomb in the series against Pakistan. He looked equally at ease against the seamers and spinners which is a big positive for Sri Lanka.
Heading into a tough series against a formidable India on their home soil, Sri Lanka would hope their opener continues to shoulder responsibility, bat long and score big against India. As mentioned earlier, if this Sri Lankan batting team can collectively perform well then they can pose a threat to this Indian team.
