Sri Lanka’s captain Dimuth Karunaratne has admitted that his team misread the Pallekele wicket.

Rex Clementine at Pallekele

Sri Lanka skipper Dimuth Karunaratne has conceded that his team misread the wicket ahead of the opening Test match against Bangladesh at Pallekele that concluded in a tame draw on Sunday. A thick grass cover had indicated that the wicket was going to heavily favour seam bowling, but eventually the batsmen made merry with Bangladesh posting 541, the highest total at Pallekele, only for Sri Lankans to raise the benchmark to 648 when they batted. Despite the grass cover, the wicket was dry and had little carry and bounce.

Bangladesh seemed to have read the pitch well as they opted to bat first after winning the toss. Sri Lanka skipper Dimuth Karunartne, meanwhile, said he wanted to bowl first during the toss. At conclusion, however, Karunaratne, whose middle name is Frank, admitted it was a wrong call. “We misread the wicket. We thought it will help seam bowlers, that’s why we wanted to bowl first but it was not to be so,” Karunaratne said after the game.

The Sri Lankan skipper, however, was the cynosure of all eyes after posting a career best 244, the first double hundred scored at Pallekele. He was involved in a record breaking 345 run partnerships with Dhananjaya de Silva during a crucial stage of the match.

Karunaratne’s concentration levels and application was appreciated by all and sundry after he batted for 11 hours and 28 minutes. The Sri Lankan skipper was on the field on all five days of the Test match. On day one, two and three he was captaining and fielding while on day three, four and five he was batting.

“When you play a Test you have to be mentally prepared to be on the field all five days, whether that’s fielding or batting. Yes, you can feel it in your body when you’ve been fielding a couple of days, but when you get a chance to bat, you’ve got to take that opportunity,” Karunaratne said.

“In the West Indies I was trying to score runs quickly in the first few overs and really get among the runs,” Karunaratne said. “But because that was unsuccessful I talked to the coach and asked him what I was doing wrong. He said as an opener just wait until you get set, because when you do that you make a big score, and that’s your game.”

“I tried to leave the ball a lot when I started here, and properly get settled. I know that when I get set, I can catch up on the scoring rate later. That’s what I applied here,” Karunaratne, who faced 437 balls during his knock, added.

Bangladesh skipper Mominul Haque who scored his first Test hundred overseas was happy with the result. “We lost a home series to West Indies pretty badly so we are happy that we are able to come overseas and draw a game. Pretty happy with my own performance as it was my first hundred overseas. There were contributions from all the players and it was a very good team effort. When everyone contributes, we do well,” Mominul said.

The teams are in Kandy in a ‘bio-bubble’. The second Test begins on Thursday.