Frank Dimuth Madushanka Karunaratne (born 21 April 1988; Sinhala: දිමුත් කරුණාරත්න), popularly known as Dimuth Karunaratne, is a professional Sri Lankan cricketer and current captain of the Sri Lanka Test cricket team.[1] He is considered as one of the best Test openers in the world.[2] He is a left-handed red ball specialist who represents the country in both Tests and ODIs, and also a former ODI captain. He plays first-class cricket for the Sinhalese Sports Club. Karunaratne is the opening batsman for Sri Lanka in Test cricket and ODIs.[3]
Since 2015, Karunaratne has become the leading batsman for Sri Lanka in Tests due to his century making in the second innings of Test matches.[4] He was described as second-innings specialist by many commentators.[5] He scored four centuries in the second innings out of the six centuries he made until October 2017.[6] On 7 October 2017, Karunaratne became the second Sri Lankan opener after Tillakaratne Dilshan to score three Test centuries in a calendar year. In February 2019, he was named as the captain of Sri Lanka's Test squad for their series against South Africa.[7]
In April 2019, Sri Lanka Cricket named Dimuth Karunaratne as the team's new One Day International captain ahead of the 2019 Cricket World Cup, replacing Lasith Malinga.[8] He is the only batsman after Ridley Jacobs to carry his bat in a Cricket World Cup.[9]