Dilruwan Perera announces retirement from international cricket

Veteran Sri Lankan spinner Dilruwan Perera on Wednesday (January 26) announced his retirement from international cricket. As per the developements, the 39-year-old has communicated his decision via Email to the CEO of Sri Lanka Cricket, Ashley de Silva. Perera was a vital cog of Sri Lanka’s Test team and his numbers in the longest format are also pretty impressive.

The off-spinner has tormented the best of batters with his ability to spin the ball even on flat tracks. Perera is also the fastest Sri Lankan to complete 50 and 100 Test wickets, having achieved the milestone in 11 and 25 matches respectively. He was also a handy batter lower down the order, who played several crucial knocks in Sri Lankan colours. In fact, he is the first Sri Lankan to take 10 wickets and score a half-century in the same Test.

I will continue to play domestic cricket: Dilruwan Perera

Owing to the same, his departure has left a substantial void in the Sri Lankan Test team. Meanwhile, Perera has stated that he’ll continue playing domestic cricket for quite some more time. “I will continue to play domestic cricket for a while longer but for now I think the time is right to call it curtains on my international cricket journey,” wrote Dilruwan in his retirement note as per Thepapare.com.

“I’ve had the privilege and honour of playing with some of the best in the game, I leave with fond memories and a heart full of joy,” Dilruwan added. Meanwhile, the spinner has also been phenomenal in domestic cricket. So far, he has scalped over 800 Test wickets in over 200 First-Class appearances.

As far as his numbers in international cricket are concerned, Perera finishes as Sri Lanka’s fifth-highest wicket-taker in Tests, having scalped 161 wickets in 43 Tests. He scalped as many as eight five-wicket hauls in Tests alongside a couple of 10-wicket hauls. He also did a fine job with the bat as well, scoring 1303 runs in the purest format with the help of seven half-centuries.

His highest score of 95 came against Pakistan in 2014. Besides this, Perera also took 13 ODI and 3 T20I wickets in as many appearances in the formats.