Karunaratne Becomes 2nd Opener to Carry His Bat Through in WC Tie

The other batsman to carry his bat through was West Indian wicket-keeper batsman, Ridley Jacobs in the 1999 WC.

Karunaratne scored an unbeaten 52 in Sri Lanka’s overall score of 136. 

(Photo: AP)

Sri Lankan skipper Dimuth Karunaratne became the second-ever opening batsman to stay unbeaten in World Cup history. On Saturday, 1 June against New Zealand, the left-hander scored an unbeaten 52 off 84 balls.

None of the other batsmen were able to support Karunaratne as Sri Lanka had a disappointing start to their World Cup campaign.

Kusal Perera was the second-highest run-scorer of the Lankan innings with 29 runs.

The other batsman to carry his bat through apart from Karunaratne was the West Indian wicket-keeper batsman, Ridley Jacobs who scored an unbeaten 49 against Australia in the 1999 World Cup.

The Sri Lankan cricket team received some serious criticism after their heavy loss against the Kiwis. They play their next game against Afghanistan on 7 June .

“I think 136 was not enough in these conditions. Me and Kusal (Perera) batted well, but we lost wickets regularly after that. We need to build partnerships. In the morning it was seaming and swinging a little bit, and they had that advantage. They also had good bowlers to do that” said Karunaratne at the post-match presentation.

Everyone is coming to watch some good entertaining cricket, so I'm looking forward to some good batting wickets” the Lankan skipper further added.