Thisara Perera

Narangoda Liyanaarachchige Thisara Chirantha Perera (තිසර පෙරේරා; born 3 April 1989), popularly as Thisara Perera, is a former Sri Lankan international cricketer who played all formats for the national team.

He also captained the team in limited-overs formats.

Domestically he plays for Sri Lanka Army Sports Club in the Premier Trophy and Premier Limited-Overs Tournament, and the Jaffna Stallions in the Lanka Premier League.

Perera has played franchise T20 cricket all around the world for numerous leagues.

Primarily a bowling all-rounder, he is an aggressive left-handed batsman who can hit big sixes in death overs and is a useful right-arm medium-fast bowler.

He represented Sri Lanka at various youth levels, and was selected for the 2008 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup.

In November 2008, he made his first class debut for the Colts Cricket Club.

He has picked up 41 wickets in 18 U19 ODIs.

He is also the leading wicket taker for the Sri Lanka under-19 team without grabbing a fifer in his career.

Perera made his international debut for Sri Lanka in December 2009, in a late call-up to play in an ODI against India in Kolkata.

He took his first five-wicket haul in international cricket in August 2010, earning him the player of the match award in an ODI victory over India.

He took five wickets in an ODI against Australia on the same tour.

In May 2010, he made his Twenty20 international debut, representing Sri Lanka in the ICC World Twenty20 in the West Indies.

He was a member of the Sri Lankan team that in October 2010 inflicted Australia's first defeat in a Twenty20 international in Australia, bringing up Sri Lanka's final 16 runs to win the match off three deliveries.

Perera was a member of Sri Lanka's squad for the 2011 Cricket World Cup in Sri Lanka, India and Bangladesh.

He was part of the team defeated in the final of the tournament by India, scoring 22 not out off ten deliveries and taking the wicket of Gautam Gambhir.

He was not selected for the Test series against Pakistan later in the year, being retained only for the ODI and Twenty20 sides, but was recalled to the Test team for the end-of-year tour of South Africa He played two ODIs on the tour and scored his first half-century in the format—69 not out off 44 balls—to help Sri Lanka to victory in the fourth of the five-match series in Kimberley.

In the 2nd ODI of 2012 series between Pakistan and Sri Lanka, he done brilliant late-order hitting and became first ever person to take 6 wickets against Pakistan in an ODI - his career best.

This performance won him the Man of the Match as well.

In the 4th ODI of the same series, he shocked Pakistan by taking a hat-trick and managing a run-out in his maiden over took the wicket of saajid and became first Sri Lankan to register a hat-trick against Pakistan.

Perera also has the record for the highest ODI score for Sri Lanka when batting at number 9 position or lower when he scored unbeaten 80 runs.

On 26 July 2013 against South Africa, Perera hit Robin Peterson for 35 runs in one over (6, Wd, 6, 6, 6, 4, 6), which is recorded as the second most expensive over in ODI History.

On 28 March 2021 Perera became the first Sri Lankan to hit six sixes in an over, doing so for the Sri Lanka Army Sports Club against Bloomfield.

The bowler on the receiving end was part-time off-spinner Dilhan Cooray.

On 3 May 2021, Perera announced his retirement from international cricket, however he confirmed that he would continue to play domestic and franchise cricket.

Thisara Perera started his cricket career as a teenager at St. Anthony's College, Wattala.

He later attended the prestigious St. Joseph's College, Colombo, which has produced Sri Lankan cricketers such as Chaminda Vaas, Angelo Mathews and Dimuth Karunaratne.

Perera was a part of the Sri Lankan team that won the 2014 ICC World Twenty20, and scored the winning six in the final.

Perera also contributed to the win 2014 ICC World Twenty20 championship which was Sri Lanka's first World T20I title.

In that innings against India in the final, Perera had an unbeaten partnership with Kumar Sangakkara and hit the winning boundary.

On 12 February 2016, Perera became the second player (after Australian Brett Lee) to take a hat-trick in both ODI & T20I.

In Australia he is known by his nickname "panda", which was bestowed upon him by George Bailey during his stint in the BBL with the Brisbane Heat, although he prefers "TP".

On 5 January 2019, in the second ODI against New Zealand, Perera scored his first century in ODIs, when he made 140 runs from 74 balls.

It was the fastest century against New Zealand in ODIs, coming from 57 balls.

Perera also scored thirteen sixes in his innings, the most by a Sri Lankan batsman in an ODI, and the most sixes by a batsman on the losing side in an ODI match.

He was selected in Sri Lanka's Test squad for a series against England.

He made his debut in the first Test of the series at Sophia Gardens, Cardiff.

In an innings defeat, he scored 25 and 20 with the bat and took no wickets.

He was not selected for the Test series against Pakistan later in the year, being retained only for the ODI and Twenty20 sides, but was recalled to the Test team for the end-of-year tour of South Africa.

He played in all three Tests of the tour, scoring 81 runs and taking five wickets.