Sri Lanka’s batting coach Hashan Tillakaratne was a tough Test cricketer. He was the first Sri Lankan to score a Test hundred in South Africa and the second Sri Lankan to score a Test hundred in Australia. His 11 Test hundreds are the eighth most by a Sri Lankan in Test cricket and he could have actually had a few more. Tillakaratne was dismissed in the 90s on five occasions and he believes his experiences will help him in guiding Dimuth Karunaratne out of a crisis.
Dimuth went onto top score with 196 runs in Sri Lanka’s first innings of the second Test against Pakistan here in Dubai. He looked in superb touch and hardly put a foot wrong, but fatigue and lapse of concentration saw him playing Wahab Riaz on the wrong line and drag the ball onto the stumps after deflection off his body. 
Dimuth batted for nine and half hours and face 450 deliveries in his marathon knock. He hit 19 fours and a six.
Dimuth was run out for 93 in the Abu Dhabi last week and two months ago missed out on another Test century against India as he was dismissed three runs short of the milestone. He was bogged down once he reached 180s and wasn’t his free flowing self.
“It is very pleasing to see Dimuth getting a big hundred today. The way he batted was really good to see. He has been very consistent for us and today’s was a brilliant knock. Don’t worry we are working on what he should be doing when he is on the 90s,” Tillakaratne told journalists.
Another area that Dimuth has improved is his first innings scoring. Since scoring a 185 against West Indies in Galle in 2015, Dimuth over the last two years had failed to score a Test hundred in 21 games.
“We had a chat before this series about his first innings batting and we wanted him to play positive. He has stuck to it and its very pleasing to see his performance,” Tillakaratne noted.
It was a solid batting effort by the Sri Lankans as Dimuth was well supported with three half-centuries. Captain Dinesh Chandimal posted 62 while Niroshan Dickwella and Dilruwan Perera chipped in with scores of 52 and 58 respectively
There were three crucial partnerships at that stage as Dimuth added 146 runs for the fourth wicket with Chandimal and an 88 run stand followed for the fifth wicket with Dickwella. By the time Dimuth was dismissed, he had added 59 runs with Dilruwan for the sixth wicket.
Dickwella in particular has been impressive having made scores of 83, 40 not out and 52 in the series and seems to be playing with more focus and putting a premium on his wicket whereas he was guilty of throwing away his wicket in the Indian series.
“Even during the Indian series he was amongst runs, but this time around Niroshan has been very consistent. He is working very hard on his game,” Tillakaratne noted.
Sri Lanka’s bowlers tested the Pakistani batsmen under lights with debutant Lahiru Gamage and Suraga Lakmal having a few close calls while Dilruwan Perera too troubled the batsmen. Pakistan finished on 51 for no loss.
“It has been turning from the day one and I am sure it will offer more turn from tomorrow onwards and we are looking forward to a good day’s contest. Pakistan have a very good batting unit and we need to stick to our game plan and get some wickets in the first session.”
Sri Lanka are chasing history as Pakistan have never lost a series in UAE since their international cricket was shifted to a neutral venue. Sri Lanka in the meanwhile have not beaten a team who are ranked higher than them in the last three years away from home.
Sri Lanka are 1-0 up in the two match series after they won the first Test in Abu Dhabi in dramatic style by 21 runs. The teams will play a five match ODI series and three T-20 Internationals after the Test series
If Sri Lanka win this series they will move above Pakistan in the official rankings to number six.
