On Saturday (1st April), during the match 3 of the 2019 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup, Sri Lankan captain Dimuth Karunaratne became the 12th batsman to carry bat through a completed ODI innings.
Sri Lanka has a very disappointing start in this tournament as they were bundled out for just 136 runs against New Zealand at Cardiff. It is their tournament opener where they were sent to bat first after the New Zealand captain won the toss.
From the first over of Sri Lankan innings, New Zealand bowlers dominated. Apart from the captain and the opener Dimuth Karunaratne, no other Sri Lankan batsmen batted strongly in that innings. Among the other Sri Lankan batsmen, only the no.3 batsman Kusal Perera (29 runs) and the lower-order batsman Thisara Perera (27 runs) reached the double-digit marks in that innings.
While all the Sri Lankan batsmen struggled in that innings, Karunaratne remained not out on 52 runs off 84 balls. He hit four fours in that fighting knock.
Dimuth Karunaratne is the second batsman in Cricket World Cup history to carry bat
After that innings, Karunaratne became the 12th batsman to carry bat through a completed ODI innings. He is the second Sri Lankan batsman to carry bat through a completed ODI innings. In 2017, Upul Tharanga was the first Sri Lankan cricketer to achieve this feat when he was not out on 112 runs against Pakistan at Abu Dhabi (16th October 2017).
Meanwhile, Dimuth Karunaratne is the second batsman in Cricket World Cup history to carry bat through a completed ODI innings. The first batsman to achieve this feat in CWC history was the Caribbean batsman Ridley Jacobs (against Australia at Manchester during the 1999 Cricket World Cup).
Here is the latest list of carrying bat through a completed ODI innings
| Player (Team) | Runs | Opposition | Venue | Date |
| Grant Flower (Zimbabwe) |
84* | England | Sydney | 15th December 1994 |
| Saeed Anwar (Pakistan) | 103* | Zimbabwe | Harare | 22nd February 1995 |
| Nick Knight (England) | 125* | Pakistan | Nottingham | 1st September 1996 |
| Ridley Jacobs* (West Indies) | 49* | Australia | Manchester | 30th May 1999 |
| Damien Martyn (Australia) | 116* | New Zealand | Auckland | 3rd March 2000 |
| Herschelle Gibbs (South Africa) | 59* | Pakistan | Sharjah | 28th March 2000 |
| Alec Stewart
(England) |
100* | West Indies | Nottingham | 20th July 2000 |
| Javed Omar (Bangladesh) | 33* | Zimbabwe | Harare | 8th April 2001 |
| Azhar Ali
(Pakistan) |
81* | Sri Lanka | Colombo (RPS) | 16th June 2012 |
| Tom Latham (New Zealand) | 79* | India | Dharamsala | 16th October 2016 |
| Upul Tharanga (Sri Lanka) | 112* | Pakistan | Abu Dhabi | 16th October 2017 |
| Dimuth Karunaratne* (Sri Lanka) | 52* | New Zealand | Cardiff | 1st June 2019 |
(Special Note: Ridley Jacobs and Dimuth Karunaratne’s records happened during the Cricket World Cup)