Kusal Perera

In second innings as well, he scored 70 runs to be the 2nd Sri Lankan batsman to score 2 successive half centuries on Test debut after Dinesh Chandimal.

But eventually Sri Lanka lost the match and also the series against India.

Mathurage Don Kusal Janith Perera (කුසල් පෙරේරා) (born 17 August 1990), aka Kusal Perera is a professional Sri Lankan cricketer currently plays limited overs cricket and a former ODI cricket captain.

He made his Indian Premier League (IPL) debut playing for Rajasthan Royals in the 2013 IPL season.

Perera was a part of a 15-man squad that toured Australia in January 2013.

He made his One day international debut against Australia in the 2nd ODI on January 13, 2013, replacing the injured Dinesh Chandimal, where he came to bat on number 4 and scored an unbeaten 14 from 16 balls before Sri Lanka won by 8 wickets.

Perera made his T20I debut in the first T20I against Australia in January 2013 and scored 33 from 22 balls before getting caught behind off Australian all rounder, Glenn Maxwell.

In this match he hit some aggressive shots and many compared him with Sanath Jayasuriya.

After the retirement of Kumar Sangakkara, his position remained vacant for a new player and Kusal was brought into the team.

On 31 March 2013, T20I match during Bangladesh tour of Sri Lanka, Kusal Perera scored his maiden T20I half century.

He scored 64 from 44 balls hitting five boundaries and four sixes.

Sri Lanka won the match by 17 runs and Kusal Perera won man of the match award for his performance.

On 21 November 2013, New Zealand tour of Sri Lanka, Kusal Perera scored his second T20I half century.

While chasing the target of 142 runs, Perera scored 57 runs from 37 balls hitting six boundaries and two sixes.

Finally Sri Lanka won the match by 8 wickets and Kusal Perera won the man of the match award for his performance.

On 13 December 2013 he scored 84 runs from 59 balls against Pakistan and Sri Lanka and went on to score a massive total of 211.

Sri Lanka won the match by 24 runs and Perera earned the Man of the Match for the performance.

He was a key member of the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 winning team.

Perera hit his maiden ODI ton against Bangladesh on 22 February 2014.

He made his Test debut for Sri Lanka against India on 28 August 2015.

His arrival to the test team was not good at all, when he dropped Indian skipper Virat Kohli, but he went on to take 2 catches and 1 stumping in that innings.

He showed his batting talents right on the first innings of the match, where he was the top scorer for Sri Lanka with 56 runs in first innings.

Prior to the start of the 2018 IPL season, he was approached by the Sunrisers Hyderabad team to replace their former captain David Warner who was banned for ball-tampering scandal against South Africa.

However, he turned down the offer as he was devoted to play in the domestic league matches in Sri Lanka during the period and wanted to make a Test return into the Sri Lankan cricket team for the then upcoming series against West Indies in June 2018.

Later, Alex Hales was called up to replace Warner for the 2018 IPL season following the refusal of Kusal Perera.

He is known as a quick scorer, and can hit the ball very hard which has a same batting style of former Sri Lanka legend Sanath Jayasuriya.

In a first class match he scored 330 off 270 balls, which is a domestic record.

In March 2018, he was named as the vice-captain of Dambulla's squad for the 2017–18 Super Four Provincial Tournament.

The following month, he was also named as the captain of Dambulla's squad for the 2018 Super Provincial One Day Tournament.

In August 2018, he was named as the vice-captain of Kandy's squad the 2018 SLC T20 League.

He scored 153 not out against South Africa in the first Test at Durban in 2019 to snatch the victory from the hands of South Africa by adding 78 runs for the last wicket with Vishwa Fernando in the match in the 4th innings of the Test match.

That innings was named as the second-best Test innings of the decade by Wisden in 2019 and he also won the best test performance from ESPNcricinfo for 2019.

In May 2021, he was named as the captain of the Sri Lankan team, ahead of their One Day International (ODI) series against Bangladesh.

In November 2019, he was selected to play for the Cumilla Warriors in the 2019–20 Bangladesh Premier League.

Perera married his longtime partner Kalani on 3 March 2020 at the Water's Edge hotel, Battaramulla.

Having represented the Sri Lanka Police cricket team that won joint champion status in the 2023 Sri Lanka Cricket first-class competition, Perera was appointed to the police service in the rank of chief inspector of police (CIP).

Educated at Kottawa Dharmapala Maha Vidyalaya, and Royal College Colombo, he has represented the latter in the prestigious Royal–Thomian annual cricket encounter.

Even though Kusal was a right-handed batsman at the younger age of 11 to 13 years, he later switched his stance to become a left-handed batsman.

This switch has been influenced by the batting stance of the Sri Lankan legend, Sanath Jayasuriya - his childhood idol and hero.

In October 2020, he was drafted by the Kandy Tuskers for the inaugural edition of the Lanka Premier League.