Sri Lanka opener Dimuth Karunaratne has acknowledged Joe Root’s supremacy in the ongoing Test series in England. The left-handed batsman believes the tourists should come up with a solid plan, suggesting that boring him could be the best option.
The former England captain averaged a healthy 67.55 against Sri Lanka in 12 Tests besides 1351 runs with six centuries. As far as the ongoing series is concerned, Root has achieved scores of 42, 62*, 143 and 103 to help England take an unassailable 2-0 lead.
Speaking to reporters ahead of the third Test, Karunaratne noted, as quoted by ESPN Cricinfo:
“We have to take a closer look at his past performances, see where he has come from and what kind of things we can do on these pitches. Based on that we have to make a new plan. Maybe sometimes we attack him too much and he makes abuse of. Some players don’t like it when we ask them to be less aggressive. Sometimes boring hitters can also be a tactic.”
The Yorkshire batsman was equally productive when England toured the island in early 2021. He scored 228 and 186 in Galle as England defeated Sri Lanka 2-0.
“Some people adapt very quickly to the circumstances and some have a hard time” – Dimuth Karunaratne
The 36-year-old singled out Kamindu Mendis for adapting well to the conditions but found no batsman, apart from Joe Root, looked comfortable. He added (via ESPN Cricinfo):
“The juniors are doing well, especially Kamindu Mendis. Some people adapt very quickly to the conditions and some struggle. That’s the way the game is. Every match is quite tough. In England the conditions are tough for batters, and we saw that even their openers struggled, as did their number 3. Apart from Joe Root, the others also struggled, despite these being home conditions for them. We are playing here after a very long time.
The third and final Test starts on September 6 at The Oval.
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Edited by Parag Jain
