India vs Sri Lanka: 5 Lankan players to watch out for in the Test series

#3 Dimuth Karunaratne

Karunaratne will be a key player for Sri Lanka

Karunaratne has been Sri Lanka’s best Test batsman for more than a year now. This year he has scored 940 runs (which is the third-most this year) at an average of 47.

Sri Lanka were too prone to exposing their fragile middle-order early, but the 29-year old left-handed opener from Colombo has shown that there’s solidity at the top. He has the ability to bat for long hours and produce big scores.

He also seems to be improving every series. He has topped Sri Lanka’s batting charts, more often than not, in every series. In the last couple of series’ (against India at home and Pakistan in the UAE), he scored 285 and 306 runs in six and four innings respectively.

Especially his exploits against Pakistan went a long way in helping Sri Lanka win the series where he scored 93 and 196 in the first innings of the two Tests. He often had the tendency to fail in the first innings and produce a good knock in the second, but he seems to have addressed that issue as well.

A red-hot Karunaratne will be eager to prove his worth in India with some big scores and Sri Lanka would hope he continues to shoulder the responsibility of batting long. Thus, he is one of the players who can pose a big threat to the Indian bowlers.