Sri Lanka's veteran opener Dimuth Karunaratne scored his maiden ODI century on June 25 in the ongoing World Cup Qualifiers 2023. With his 103-run knock, Karunaratne has earned second spot on the list of legendary batters. The left-handed batter scored his maiden ODI century after 16 centuries in Test format, a feat only second to legendary Indian batter Sunil Gavaskar.
Ireland skipper Andrew Balbirnie won the toss and opted to bowl first. Karunaratne was cautious against new-ball bowlers in first six overs. In the ninth over, Sri Lanka lost two wickets off consecutive deliveries. Karunaratne got to his half-century from 60 deliveries. He accelerated after completing his half-century. He reached the three figures from 100 deliveries in the 36th over. But Karunaratne could not carry on after getting to his hundred. He got bowled by Mark Adair in the next over. The 35-year-old scored 103 runs from 103 balls including eight fours.
Test centuries scored by a batter their maiden ODI hundred
Sunil Gavaskar - 34
Dimuth Karunaratne - 16
Greg Chappell - 13
Steve Waugh - 11
Nasser Hussain - 10
Javed Miandad - 8
Mike Atherton - 7
Sachin Tendulkar - 7
Karunaratne shared a 168-run partnership for the third wicket with Sadeera Samarawickrama who scored 82 runs. Karunaratne's knock followed by contributions from Charith Asalanka (38) and Dhananjaya de Silva (42) helped Sri Lanka post 325. They suffered a lower-order batting collapse and got all out with one ball left in the innings.
“It was hard work, first few overs were not easy, there was something in it for the bowlers. But we worked through it and Sadeera played well, my first ODI hundred, feeling nice. I think we left 20-30 runs out there, couldn't capitalize from our start, they bowled well, used variations, bowled slower balls and kept us in check. But we got a good total on the board, we'll have to bowl well with the new ball. We wanted to be careful in the first 10 overs, push the ball into the gaps and score runs,” Karunaratne said in the innings break.
This was Karunaratne’s fifth consecutive fifty-plus score in ODIs. He became the fifth Sri Lankan to do so after Sanath Jayasuriya, Tilakaratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara and Dinesh Chandimal. He was brought back into the ODI fold after more than two years. After a single-digit score against Afghanistan, he has registered scores of 52, 56*, 52, 61* and 103.
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