Former Sri Lanka skipper Dimuth Karunaratne has announced his decision to retire from international cricket following the second Test against Australia in Galle, set to begin on Thursday.

The Galle Test will be Karunaratne's 100th Test and the opener felt it would be the ideal platform to call time on his international career.

"After the first Test against Australia ended, I told SLC [Sri Lanka Cricket] that the next Test would be my last. It was the right time to go, considering there are three or four younger players who could come in for the next WTC cycle. Plus, this match was in Galle, where I made my debut, so it will be nice to finish things there," Karunaratne told ESPNcricinfo.

The 36-year-old has been a consistent run-getter for Sri Lanka in the five-day format in a career spanning over 12 years. In 99 Tests, the left-hander has accumulated 7172 runs, averaging a shade below 40 with 16 centuries and 39 half-centuries. He has also played 50 ODIs for the Lankans.

He is set to retire as the seventh Sri Lankan cricketer with 100 appearances in Test cricket, following the likes of Sanath Jayasuriya, Muthiah Muralidaran, Chaminda Vaas, Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara and Angelo Mathews.

"Playing 100 Tests is a tough thing to accomplish, especially when you're an opening batter and you're doing the dirty work for the team," Karunaratne told ESPNcricinfo.

The Southpaw also opened up on the biggest regret of his career, "I'd also have loved to make it to a World Test Championship final and experience that feeling of being in a final. We were close twice, but it never happened."