Tests - Best Sri Lankan Opening Batsmen

Top 10 Sri Lankan Opening Batsmen in Tests

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All Test Ratings on the website are from 01/01/1950 onwards (Know Why). They are updated till 2026-02-05. Brief explanation of the ratings is given before each section (Detailed Explanation) and in the last section. Here are the Top 10 Sri Lankan opening batsmen in Test Cricket since 1950.

CONTENTS
1. THE CRITERIA
2. QUALIFICATION
3. PRIMARY CRITERIA
3.1. PROLIFIC
3.2. CONSISTENT
3.2.1. Against All Teams
3.2.2. Against Top Teams
3.3. ATTACKING
3.3.1. Against All Teams
3.3.2. Against Top Teams
3.4. BIG INNINGS POTENTIAL
3.4.1. Against All Teams
3.4.2. Against Top Teams
3.5. PRIMARY RATING
4. CONDITIONS CRITERIA
4.1. HOME/AWAY
4.1.1. At Home
4.1.2. Away From Home
4.2. FAMILIAR/UNFAMILIAR CONDITIONS
4.2.1. Familiar Conditions Rating
4.2.1.1. Asians In Asia
4.2.2. Unfamiliar Conditions Rating
4.2.2.1. Asians Outside Asia
4.3. CONDITIONS RATING
5. SECONDARY CRITERIA
5.1. LOW SCORING INNS
5.2. TOP FORM
5.3. IMPACT INNS
5.4. SECONDARY RATING
6. OVERALL RATING
6.1. BRIEF EXPLANATION
6.1.1. Dynamic Nature
6.1.2. Trend Setter (TS)
6.1.3. Top Teams (TT)
6.1.4. Abbreviations
Nations Filter

This rating filters the OVERALL Rating to show players only from Sri Lanka.

  • The Rating of the players from Sri Lanka remains the same as in the original OVERALL Rating.
  • Thus the Trend Setter can be from any nation and is not necessarily from Sri Lanka.
Position Filter

This rating filters the OVERALL Rating to include performances of opening batsmen. Innings played only at the specified position are counted in this rating.

THE CRITERIA

CRITERIA CONSTITUENTS
Primary Runs, Average, Strike Rate, Top Inns
Conditions Home, Away, In Asia, Outside Asia
Secondary Top Form, Low Scoring Inns, Impact Inns

QUALIFICATION

Min Innings (TT) 25
Min Runs 500

PRIMARY CRITERIA

The Primary Rating is divided into 4 main sections:-

CRITERIA STAT POINTS
Prolific Runs Scored 250.00
Consistent Average 400.00
Attacking Strike Rate 100.00
Big Innings Potential Top Inns (Runs) 250.00

PROLIFIC

The Eras

The time period from 1950 to present is divided into eras for this section. This is because less cricket was played earlier. To make it fair for earlier players they are compared with players of the same period with a slight reduction in points. Know More About Eras.

Era 1 MP before 1976
Era 2 MP between 1975 And 1996
Era 3 MP between 1995 And 2016
Era 4 MP greater than 2015

Criteria: Points For Runs Scored

RANK ERA 1 NAT FP LP MP INNS RUNS RAT
TS G Boycott ENG 1964 1982 1973 191 8091 230.00
RANK ERA 2 NAT FP LP MP INNS RUNS RAT
TS SM Gavaskar IND 1971 1987 1979 203 9607 240.00
1 RS Mahanama SL 1986 1997 1991.5 72 2069 51.69
2 UC Hathurusingha SL 1991 1996 1993.5 42 1260 31.48
3 S Wettimuny SL 1982 1987 1984.5 43 1221 30.50
RANK ERA 3 NAT FP LP MP INNS RUNS RAT
TS AN Cook ENG 2006 2018 2012 278 11845 250.00
1 ST Jayasuriya SL 1994 2007 2000.5 152 5932 125.20
2 MS Atapattu SL 1997 2007 2002 136 5317 112.22
3 TM Dilshan SL 2009 2013 2011 53 2170 45.80
4 NT Paranavitana SL 2009 2012 2010.5 59 1743 36.79
5 WU Tharanga SL 2005 2017 2011 48 1365 28.81
RANK ERA 4 NAT FP LP MP INNS RUNS RAT
TS DA Warner AUS 2011 2024 2017.5 202 8747 240.00
1 FDM Karunaratne SL 2012 2025 2018.5 186 7129 195.61
2 JK Silva SL 2013 2018 2015.5 67 1900 52.13

CONSISTENT

R Ave

Relative Average (R Ave) is a more accurate type of average. Know How It Is Calculated. Briefly, it takes into account:-

  • Strength of Opposition.
  • Positions at which a batsman has played.
  • Venues at which he has played.
  • Time Period in which he has been active

Criteria: Points For Relative Average

Min Qualification For TS
Min Runs 1000
Min Runs (TT) 800

Against All Teams

RANK BATSMAN INNS NO RUNS AVE R AVE RAT
TS RB Simpson 70 4 3664 55.52 58.31 160.00
1 MS Atapattu 136 13 5317 43.23 44.45 121.96
2 ST Jayasuriya 152 9 5932 41.48 42.58 116.84
3 TM Dilshan 53 2 2170 42.55 41.58 114.09
4 FDM Karunaratne 186 7 7129 39.83 41.20 113.04
5 UC Hathurusingha 42 1 1260 30.73 32.34 88.74
6 S Wettimuny 43 1 1221 29.07 31.52 86.48
7 NT Paranavitana 59 5 1743 32.28 31.13 85.43
8 RS Mahanama 72 1 2069 29.14 30.88 84.74
9 JK Silva 67 0 1900 28.36 28.18 77.33
10 WU Tharanga 48 1 1365 29.04 27.19 74.61

Against Top Teams

RANK BATSMAN INNS NO RUNS AVE R AVE RAT
TS RB Simpson 45 4 2199 53.63 60.03 240.00
1 ST Jayasuriya 98 4 4056 43.15 46.55 186.11
2 TM Dilshan 39 1 1553 40.87 41.71 166.77
3 MS Atapattu 92 6 3289 38.24 41.55 166.13
4 S Wettimuny 28 1 902 33.41 36.85 147.31
5 FDM Karunaratne 129 3 4122 32.71 36.00 143.94
6 NT Paranavitana 42 3 1280 32.82 32.09 128.31
7 UC Hathurusingha 35 0 1033 29.51 31.74 126.89
8 RS Mahanama 48 0 1282 26.71 29.65 118.53
9 JK Silva 55 0 1491 27.11 27.76 110.98
10 WU Tharanga 33 0 718 21.76 21.84 87.33

ATTACKING

R SR

Relative Strike Rate (R SR) is calculated using the same method as R Ave with average being replaced with SR. Batsman who were active in earlier times benefit from this as SR was generally low earlier.

R4BF

Balls played by batsmen for many inns is not available for earlier times. When such is the case, we have used Runs For Balls Faced (R4BF) to determine the Strike Rate. This is the runs scored by the batsman for the available data of balls.

Criteria: Points For R SR

Min Qualification For TS
Min Runs 1000
Min Runs (TT) 800
Min Average 25

Against All Teams

RANK BATSMAN R4BF BF SR R SR RAT
TS V Sehwag 8207 9875 83.11 82.03 40.00
1 ST Jayasuriya 5932 8995 65.95 69.57 33.92
2 TM Dilshan 2170 3041 71.36 68.35 33.33
3 WU Tharanga 1365 2566 53.20 51.07 24.90
4 FDM Karunaratne 7129 13802 51.65 49.93 24.35
5 RS Mahanama 2005 4703 42.63 48.54 23.67
6 S Wettimuny 819 2010 40.75 47.20 23.02
7 MS Atapattu 5317 11915 44.62 46.96 22.90
8 UC Hathurusingha 1260 3540 35.59 40.04 19.52
9 NT Paranavitana 1743 4216 41.34 39.19 19.11
10 JK Silva 1900 4713 40.31 39.01 19.02

Against Top Teams

RANK BATSMAN R4BF BF SR R SR RAT
TS V Sehwag 5890 7098 82.98 81.97 60.00
1 ST Jayasuriya 4056 6229 65.11 69.74 51.05
2 TM Dilshan 1553 2253 68.93 66.55 48.71
3 S Wettimuny 621 1472 42.19 49.73 36.40
4 FDM Karunaratne 4122 8161 50.51 49.37 36.14
5 WU Tharanga 718 1430 50.21 48.66 35.62
6 RS Mahanama 1219 2935 41.53 47.36 34.67
7 MS Atapattu 3289 8107 40.57 43.56 31.89
8 UC Hathurusingha 1033 2885 35.81 40.67 29.77
9 NT Paranavitana 1280 3141 40.75 38.74 28.35
10 JK Silva 1491 3796 39.28 38.21 27.97

BIG INNINGS POTENTIAL

Ave HS

In this criteria, we have taken the top 7 scores of the batsman. Average High Score (Ave HS) is simply the total runs in the 7 innings divided by 7.

Criteria: Points For Runs Scored In The Top 7 Inns

Against All Teams

RANK BATSMAN 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 AVE HS RAT
TS V Sehwag 319 309 293 254 201* 201 195 253.14 80.00
1 ST Jayasuriya 340 253 213 199 188 157 148 214.00 67.63
2 MS Atapattu 249 223 216* 207* 201* 201 185 211.71 66.91
3 FDM Karunaratne 244 196 186 179 158* 152 147 180.29 56.98
4 TM Dilshan 193 147 126 123* 121 112 109 133.00 42.03
5 S Wettimuny 190 157 96 79 71 65 63* 103.00 32.55
6 RS Mahanama 153 151 109 85 78 73 69 102.57 32.42
7 JK Silva 139 125 95 94 81 80 79 99.00 31.29
8 WU Tharanga 165 115 92 83 72 71* 71 95.57 30.20
9 NT Paranavitana 111 100 95 76* 75 73 72 86.00 27.18
10 UC Hathurusingha 83 81 74 73 67 66 59 71.86 22.71

Against Top Teams

RANK BATSMAN 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 AVE HS RAT
TS V Sehwag 319 309 293 254 201* 201 195 253.14 170.00
1 ST Jayasuriya 340 253 199 188 148 131 113 196.00 131.63
2 MS Atapattu 207* 201* 133 127 120 118 118 146.29 98.24
3 FDM Karunaratne 196 158* 141 130 107 103 97 133.14 89.41
4 TM Dilshan 193 147 121 112 109 101 92 125.00 83.94
5 S Wettimuny 190 157 79 71 63* 52 45 93.86 63.03
6 JK Silva 125 95 81 80 79 64 63 83.86 56.31
7 NT Paranavitana 111 100 76* 75 72 66 65 80.71 54.20
8 RS Mahanama 151 78 73 69 63 58 53 77.86 52.29
9 UC Hathurusingha 83 81 74 73 67 53 49 68.57 46.05
10 WU Tharanga 92 83 72 64 52 47 46 65.14 43.75

PRIMARY RATING

The total of the above four criteria comes out to be 1,000.00 points. The Primary Rating is the addition of the points a batsman scored in the four criteria. The Weightage of the Rating is 40 percent.

RANK BATSMAN PRO CON BIP ATT RAT PRI PTS
1 ST Jayasuriya 125.20 302.94 199.26 84.97 712.37 284.95
2 FDM Karunaratne 195.61 256.98 146.39 60.48 659.46 263.78
3 MS Atapattu 112.22 288.09 165.15 54.79 620.24 248.10
4 TM Dilshan 45.80 280.86 125.98 82.04 534.68 213.87
5 S Wettimuny 30.50 233.79 95.58 59.42 419.29 167.72
6 RS Mahanama 51.69 203.27 84.70 58.34 397.99 159.20
7 NT Paranavitana 36.79 213.73 81.38 47.46 379.37 151.75
8 JK Silva 52.13 188.31 87.60 46.99 375.04 150.02
9 UC Hathurusingha 31.48 215.63 68.76 49.29 365.16 146.06
10 WU Tharanga 28.81 161.94 73.95 60.52 325.22 130.09

CONDITIONS CRITERIA

The Conditions

The Conditions Ratings are calculated by applying the four criteria of the Primary Rating to diffirent conditions. If Innings are less than the Qualification than the Player gets 50% of the Points.

The four conditions criteria and thier weightage is as follows:-

CRITERIA POINTS
Home 30.00
Away 120.00
Familiar Conditions 30.00
Unfamiliar Conditions 120.00

HOME/AWAY

HM/AW RATING

Points to note:-

  • U.A.E. is considered as a second Home for Pakistan and Afghanistan.
  • All Home and Away stats of Pakistani and Afghani batsmen are calculated accordingly.

At Home

Min Innings Vs Top Teams: 10

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 ST Jayasuriya 87 3629 44.26 65.14 769.64 23.09
2 FDM Karunaratne 77 3741 50.55 55.65 674.13 20.22
3 MS Atapattu 72 2650 41.41 44.95 618.73 18.56
4 S Wettimuny 21 382 18.19 34.58 500.00 15.00
5 TM Dilshan 31 1219 42.03 75.62 483.85 14.52
6 NT Paranavitana 35 1065 34.35 42.53 413.25 12.40
7 RS Mahanama 34 1091 33.06 46.33 411.20 12.34
8 WU Tharanga 32 793 24.78 55.18 323.70 9.71
9 JK Silva 30 655 21.83 38.15 297.75 8.93
10 UC Hathurusingha 20 465 24.47 35.09 271.42 8.14

Away From Home

Min Innings Vs Top Teams: 10

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 FDM Karunaratne 109 3388 32.27 47.85 630.23 75.63
2 MS Atapattu 64 2667 45.20 44.30 588.53 70.62
3 ST Jayasuriya 65 2303 37.75 67.26 587.01 70.44
4 TM Dilshan 22 951 43.23 66.55 538.12 64.57
5 S Wettimuny 22 839 39.95 43.47 504.43 60.53
6 WU Tharanga 16 572 38.13 50.66 500.00 60.00
7 JK Silva 37 1245 33.65 41.56 427.34 51.28
8 UC Hathurusingha 22 795 36.14 35.89 414.27 49.71
9 RS Mahanama 38 978 25.74 39.33 353.15 42.38
10 NT Paranavitana 24 678 29.48 39.60 322.37 38.68

FAMILIAR/UNFAMILIAR CONDITIONS

FC/UC RATING

Points to note:-

  • Unfamiliar Conditions (UC) is Outside Asia for Asians and In Asia for Non Asians.
  • Familiar Conditions (FC) are the opposite.

Familiar Conditions Rating

Asians In Asia

Min Innings Vs Top Teams: 15

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 ST Jayasuriya 103 4442 45.33 64.97 785.46 23.56
2 FDM Karunaratne 114 5043 46.27 53.37 728.78 21.86
3 MS Atapattu 92 3347 39.85 44.24 610.47 18.31
4 TM Dilshan 38 1563 43.42 73.80 511.30 15.34
5 RS Mahanama 50 1570 32.04 44.22 427.49 12.82
6 NT Paranavitana 49 1490 33.86 42.27 405.79 12.17
7 S Wettimuny 37 931 25.16 41.07 363.60 10.91
8 JK Silva 43 1208 28.09 39.88 359.52 10.79
9 UC Hathurusingha 30 849 29.28 35.76 348.27 10.45
10 WU Tharanga 38 1139 30.78 55.78 339.91 10.20

Unfamiliar Conditions Rating

Asians Outside Asia

Min Innings Vs All Teams: 5

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 MS Atapattu 44 1970 50.51 45.30 920.89 110.51
2 ST Jayasuriya 49 1490 33.11 69.05 693.18 83.18
3 FDM Karunaratne 72 2086 29.80 47.93 686.13 82.34
4 TM Dilshan 15 607 40.47 65.76 569.19 68.30
5 S Wettimuny 6 290 58.00 40.17 476.71 57.20
6 JK Silva 24 692 28.83 41.09 421.58 50.59
7 UC Hathurusingha 12 411 34.25 35.25 369.33 44.32
8 RS Mahanama 22 499 22.68 38.47 311.10 37.33
9 NT Paranavitana 10 253 25.30 36.61 297.41 35.69
10 WU Tharanga 10 226 22.60 43.13 271.33 32.56

CONDITIONS RATING

The Conditions Rating is the addition of the points a batsman scored in the four criteria. The Weightage of the Rating is 30%.

RANK BATSMAN AWAY HOME UC FC CON PTS
1 MS Atapattu 70.62 18.56 110.51 18.31 218.01
2 ST Jayasuriya 70.44 23.09 83.18 23.56 200.28
3 FDM Karunaratne 75.63 20.22 82.34 21.86 200.05
4 TM Dilshan 64.57 14.52 68.30 15.34 162.73
5 S Wettimuny 60.53 15.00 57.20 10.91 143.64
6 JK Silva 51.28 8.93 50.59 10.79 121.59
7 UC Hathurusingha 49.71 8.14 44.32 10.45 112.62
8 WU Tharanga 60.00 9.71 32.56 10.20 112.47
9 RS Mahanama 42.38 12.34 37.33 12.82 104.87
10 NT Paranavitana 38.68 12.40 35.69 12.17 98.94

SECONDARY CRITERIA

Secondary Rating

It consists of three parts. If Innings are less than the Qualification than the Player gets 50% of the Points.

The three secondary criteria and thier weightage is as follows:-

CRITERIA POINTS
Low Scoring Inns 50.00
Top Form 100.00
Impact Innings 150.00

LOW SCORING INNS

LSI RATING

Low Scoring Inns (LSI) are those inns in which batting average is less than 30.

Min Innings Vs All Teams: 10

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 FDM Karunaratne 102 2771 27.99 49.06 858.84 42.94
2 ST Jayasuriya 76 1442 20.31 59.56 605.14 30.26
3 MS Atapattu 71 1379 21.22 37.20 540.10 27.01
4 RS Mahanama 46 1090 24.22 39.10 529.58 26.48
5 UC Hathurusingha 22 628 28.55 38.06 490.68 24.53
6 JK Silva 38 790 20.79 38.59 462.33 23.12
7 S Wettimuny 31 511 17.03 39.44 385.94 19.30
8 NT Paranavitana 23 453 20.59 35.34 370.77 18.54
9 WU Tharanga 21 367 17.48 46.81 345.89 17.29
10 TM Dilshan 21 298 14.19 73.95 329.71 16.49

TOP FORM

TF RATING

Points to note about Top Form Rating:-

  • TF is calculated by taking the best 30 consecutive innings of a batsman.
  • The inns are taken such that his points are maximum.
  • Only innings against Top Teams are considered.

Min Innings Vs Top Teams: 15

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 ST Jayasuriya 30 1542 53.17 65.45 712.10 71.21
2 FDM Karunaratne 30 1440 49.66 51.17 619.15 61.91
3 MS Atapattu 30 1234 47.46 39.77 575.36 57.54
4 TM Dilshan 30 1260 43.45 69.00 568.14 56.81
5 S Wettimuny 28 902 33.41 42.19 444.75 44.48
6 RS Mahanama 30 1029 34.30 41.98 440.29 44.03
7 NT Paranavitana 30 1047 38.78 40.52 430.76 43.08
8 JK Silva 30 1055 35.17 39.92 429.75 42.97
9 UC Hathurusingha 30 918 30.60 35.61 385.00 38.50
10 WU Tharanga 30 704 23.47 51.01 329.75 32.97

IMPACT INNS

II RATING

Impact Inns are those innings which have an impact in terms of runs or strike rate. Know All About II. Points to note about II:-

  • A Batsman should score at least 30 runs to qualify.
  • An Inn is included in II if it is 15 percent of the total runs or
  • The SR is high or in a successful chase while being Not Out.

Min Innings Vs Top Teams: 20

RANK BATSMAN DIS II II/Dis% RAT WTG
1 ST Jayasuriya 143 44 30.77 476.63 71.49
2 FDM Karunaratne 179 53 29.61 472.41 70.86
3 MS Atapattu 123 35 28.46 430.51 64.58
4 TM Dilshan 51 16 31.37 400.53 60.08
5 UC Hathurusingha 41 11 26.83 360.87 54.13
6 NT Paranavitana 54 13 24.07 300.27 45.04
7 RS Mahanama 71 16 22.54 293.23 43.98
8 S Wettimuny 42 9 21.43 291.98 43.80
9 JK Silva 67 14 20.90 291.97 43.80
10 WU Tharanga 47 11 23.40 288.42 43.26

SECONDARY RATING

Secondary Rating is the addition of the points a batsman scored in the three criteria. The Weightage of the Rating is 30%.

RANK BATSMAN LSI TF II SEC RAT
1 FDM Karunaratne 42.94 61.91 70.86 175.72
2 ST Jayasuriya 30.26 71.21 71.49 172.96
3 MS Atapattu 27.01 57.54 64.58 149.12
4 TM Dilshan 16.49 56.81 60.08 133.38
5 UC Hathurusingha 24.53 38.50 54.13 117.16
6 RS Mahanama 26.48 44.03 43.98 114.49
7 JK Silva 23.12 42.97 43.80 109.89
8 S Wettimuny 19.30 44.48 43.80 107.57
9 NT Paranavitana 18.54 43.08 45.04 106.66
10 WU Tharanga 17.29 32.97 43.26 93.53

OVERALL RATING

The OVERALL Rating is the addition of the points of all the above criteria. The rating is out of 1,000 Pts.

RANK OV RANK BATSMAN NAT PRI RAT CON RAT SEC RAT FIN RAT
1 15 ST Jayasuriya SL 284.95 200.28 172.96 658.18
2 16 FDM Karunaratne SL 263.78 200.05 175.72 639.55
3 20 MS Atapattu SL 248.10 218.01 149.12 615.22
4 54 TM Dilshan SL 213.87 162.73 133.38 509.98
5 90 S Wettimuny SL 167.72 143.64 107.57 418.93
6 114 JK Silva SL 150.02 121.59 109.89 381.49
7 116 RS Mahanama SL 159.20 104.87 114.49 378.56
8 118 UC Hathurusingha SL 146.06 112.62 117.16 375.85
9 125 NT Paranavitana SL 151.75 98.94 106.66 357.35
10 132 WU Tharanga SL 130.09 112.47 93.53 336.09

BRIEF EXPLANATION

Dynamic Nature

Most of our ratings are dynamic, and as new matches are played, the rating of earlier batsmen may change if current batsmen set new benchmarks.

Trend Setter (TS)

  1. TS is the player who does the best in a criteria.
  2. The rating of all other players are calculated taking the TS as the benchmark. Example:-
  3. TS Runs: 2,000; Player X Runs: 1,000; Section Points: 250.00
  4. TS Points: 250.00 (Max)
  5. Player X Points: Runs/TS Runs X 250 = 1,000/2,000 X 250 = 125.00.
  6. Ratings of all sections are calculated similarly with Runs being replaced by the Criteria Stat.
  7. Know All About the Trend Setter
    8. .

Top Teams (TT)

  1. An opposition is counted as a TT considering its Win/Loss (WL) Ratios in last 7 years.
  2. Home, Away, In Asia, Outside Asia and Overall WL Ratio is considered.
  3. The WL Ratio should be more than a certain value overall or in specific condition.

Abbreviations

  1. AVE - Average or Runs/(Inns - Not Out)
  2. BF - Balls Faced
  3. FP - First Played by Year
  4. INF - Infinite
  5. LP - Last Played by Year
  6. MP - Middle Played or (FP+LP)/2
  7. NA - Not Applicable
  8. NI - Not In Top
  9. NK - Not Known
  10. NO, * - Not Out
  11. NQ - Not Qualified
  12. OPP - Opposition
  13. R4BF - Runs for available data of balls
  14. SR - Strike Rate or Runs/Balls
  15. TS - Trend Setter
  16. TT - Top Teams

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