Karunaratne was the Test captain of Sri Lanka for their S. Africa tour
Sri Lanka's Niroshan Dickwella believes that Dimuth Karunaratne's leadership was one of the reasons why their team won the Test series of their South Africa tour earlier this year. Dickwella was Sri Lanka's vice-captain at the time. He praises the captain's way of managing the team members during the tour.
'Dimuth is a very different kind of captain', Dickwella stated. 'His way of managing players is different, and every captain has their own style. I've played a lot with Dimuth and what he does is give the player the freedom to go and express themselves 100% in the match'.
Sri Lanka constantly changed captains since 2017 when Angelo Mathews stepped down. The Test series of the tour was Karunaratne's first time to be captain of the team. He replaced Dinesh Chandimal because the team was performing poorly under his leadership. Karunaratne was also Sri Lanka's captain in the recent ICC Cricket World Cup.
'What Dimuth says is go and do what you want to do, and what you feel you can do. If we make a mistake, he'll pull us aside and say this happened, why don't we fix that mistake for next time? He talks a lot about being confident about your abilities. And he gives you that confidence', Dickwella continued.
Sri Lanka is busy with the Test series of New Zealand's Sri Lanka tour. Karunaratne is still the team's Test captain for the tour.The second and last Test of the series starts today, August 22. Sri Lanka won the first Test match against New Zealand by six wickets.
The Test series is a part of the new ICC World Test Championship 2019-21. The odds are for New Zealand (1.85) to win against Sri Lanka (2) in the second Test match of the tour. Check the latest odds of other ongoing matches at Betwala.
READ MORE: Cricket Odds
