After playing his 100th Test match, which will be the second and last match against Australia beginning here on Thursday, former Sri Lanka captain Dimuth Karunaratne is scheduled to retire from international cricket. One of Sri Lanka’s most successful batsmen, the 36-year-old has amassed 7,172 runs at an average of a little under 40, including 16 hundreds and 34 half-centuries in 99 Test matches over almost 14 years.

In 50 ODI appearances, he has amassed 1,316 runs, including one century and eleven fifties.

In 2012, Karunaratne made his Test debut. “It is difficult for a Test player to keep himself motivated to play 4 Tests for a year and maintain his form,” ‘Daily FT’ reported him as saying.

“We haven’t had many bilateral series in the two or three years since the World Test Championship (WTC) was established. Another reason is my present form; after finishing my 100 tests and the WTC cycle (2023–25), I believed it was time to quit.

In the next month, Karunaratne and his family want to go to Australia. He will play his farewell game for Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) against NCC in the SLC Major Club three-day tournament from February 14–16. He made his first-class debut for SSC in 2008.

“I’m working on some personal projects. After talking to experienced players like Angie (Angelo Mathews) and Chandi (Dinesh Chandimal), I’ve made the decision to retire,” he said.

“It will be preferable for us to retire one at a time rather than all three of us at once. Since I know I won’t be able to reach my next goal of 10,000 runs with the fewer Test matches played, I decided to retire first. I’m pleased with my current accomplishments. I would want to play in my 100th Test as a nice way to announce my retirement.

Karunaratne has been in poor form lately, scoring 7 and 0 in the first Test match against Australia, as Sri Lanka lost by an innings and 242 runs to go down 0-1 in the two-Test series.

“Playing 100 Test matches and scoring 10,000 runs is every cricket player’s goal. It’s quite an accomplishment. You don’t think about such aims when you first start playing cricket, but as you play, you encounter more targets,” he remarked.

“But reaching 10,000 runs appears far off since Sri Lanka hasn’t played as many Test matches in a year. I consider it an accomplishment to have appeared in 100 Tests,” he said. Because of how long his career lasted, he would look back on it with satisfaction.

“Although many players participate in Test cricket, very few are able to complete 100 Test matches. I’m thrilled to have joined that limited group. It’s also a great time to be the eighth cricket player from Sri Lanka to participate in 100 Test matches,” he said.