Veteran Sri Lankan opener Dimuth Karunaratne recently reflected on the challenge of facing Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja during the 2017 Test series against India. With his retirement approaching after the second Test against Australia in Galle, Karunaratne recalled how difficult it was to face the duo when they bowled together, as they rarely offered loose deliveries. In an interview with ESPN Cricinfo ahead of his 100th Test, the 35-year-old revealed that the key to countering them was making them bowl longer spells, as loose deliveries would eventually appear. He also mentioned limiting himself to just three shots while facing Ashwin and Jadeja.

“In 2017, during a series against India, I faced a major challenge with R. Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja bowling. It was incredibly tough to get runs off them. Once they began bowling together, there wasn’t any room for scoring, and it felt like there was no loose ball. They also started early in the innings, making it even harder to find scoring opportunities,” Karunaratne shared. “That series taught me a lot about patience. I focused on surviving their initial spells — first, second, and even third spells. Eventually, the loose balls began to appear. My gameplan was simple: I decided to play only three specific shots and nothing beyond that. It worked well for me. Ashwin couldn’t get me out either by lbw or caught behind.”

India won 3-0, with Ashwin and Jadeja taking 30 wickets. Karunaratne was Sri Lanka’s top scorer, making 285 runs, including a century and a half-century.

Karunaratne will soon play his 100th Test, with over 7,000 runs, though he’s been out of form recently with two single-figure scores.

Karunaratne recalled his century in the pink-ball Test against India in Bengaluru in 2022, where Shami and Bumrah posed a tough challenge under the lights. When asked about the century’s significance, he highlighted the difficulty of the conditions.

He continued, “I’d probably rank that performance third in my career. There was a particularly tough period when we had to face a few overs under lights against the new ball. I remember telling Kusal Mendis that if I could survive that phase, I’d be in a good position to score a century the following day. Bumrah and Shami with the pink ball were very difficult to pick up in those conditions. But once I settled in, things started flowing, and I was able to score. That innings remains one of my best as captain.”