10 Interesting Kusal Perera facts - Fearless, Audacious and Aggressive

10 Interesting Kusal Perera facts – Fearless, Audacious and Aggressive: Kusal Janith Perera is a firecracker in the Sri Lankan batting unit. Many say he is a clone of the legendary Sri Lankan opener Sanath Jayasuriya when it comes to batting style. Kusal, who began as a middle-order batsman, seems to have taken a leaf out of his predecessor’s book and nowadays is the regular opener in Sri Lanka’s limited overs sides.

Like Jayasuriya, he also has a second skill – though it is wicket-keeping rather than left-arm spin. Perera’s batting is not just inspired by his hero Sanath, but at times, it seems an exact duplicate.

On his 25^th birthday we list 10 Interesting Kusal Perera facts – Fearless, Audacious and Aggressive:

1. He was part of Sri Lanka’s Under-19 teams, before he joined Colts Cricket Club as a senior.

2. The dashing young batsman etched his name in the Sri Lankan cricket folklore when he slammed 336 from just 275 deliveries for the Colts against Saracens at Havelock Park, Colombo. The hurricane knock, featuring 14 maximums and 29 hits to the fence, is the only triple century in the history of the domestic competition.

3. An injury to Kumar Sangakkara paved way for Perera’s ODI debut in Jaunuary 2013 in Adelaide. He batted at Number 4, scoring an unbeaten 14 in a charming little cameo, seeing Sri Lanka past the finish line along with the centurion, Thirimanne.

4. Perera hit his maiden ODI ton against Bangladesh on 22 February 2014. He scored 106 from 124 balls and won the “Man of the Match” award.

5. He was not included in the squad for 2015 Cricket World Cup tournament due to poor performances against India and England. But Perera was later called into the squad after Dimuth Karunaratne got injured.

Also read – Top 10 fastest fifties in ODI cricket history

6. He opened the batting for Sri Lanka in the quarter finals of the World Cup 2015, but he failed there, and got dismissed for just 3.

7. In an ODI at Pallekele, Kusal smashed Pakistani pace bowlers to all the parts of the ground and scored the joint second fastest ODI fifty off 17 balls equaling Jayasuriya’s record.

8. In the World T20 2014 Perera scored 61 runs from just 40 balls against South Africa. Sri Lanka won the match by 5 runs and Perera won the “Man of The Match” award. He scored 125 runs in the tournament at an average of 20.83 and an impressive strike rate of 145.48.

9. Apart from the national and A sides of Sri Lanka Perera has also played for Wayamba United and Ruhuna Reds. In the IPL he was a part of the Rajasthan Royals team.

10. Much like Jayasuriya, Kusal is known to have a penchant for big runs. He carried on and scored prolifically at the domestic circuit to bang hard on the national selectors’ doors.