Thisara Perera

At 35 years old, Thisara Perera has this physical status:

Narangoda Liyanaarachchilage Thisara Perera (born 3 April 1989), also known as Thisara Perera, is a professional Sri Lankan cricketer and a former limited overs captain who now represents Sri Lanka in restricted over formats.

He plays for Colts Cricket Club, Wayamba Wolves, and recently joined Gloucestershire's squad to play NatWest T20 Blast.

He is primarily a bowling all-rounder and is a good right-arm medium-fast bowler. Perera hit Robin Peterson for 35 runs in a single over on Friday, June 26, 2013, against South Africa.

6,6,6,6,6,6) is the second most costly over in ODI history. Perera was a member of the Sri Lankan team that won the 2014 ICC World Twenty2020 Championships.

Perez joined Brett Lee on February 12th, 2016 to take hat-tricks in both ODI and T20I.

He is known in Australia by his nickname "panda," which was bestowed on him by George Bailey during his time with the Brisbane Heat, although he prefers "TP."

Personal life

Sherami Dinulshika, Perera's mother, married Perera at the age of eighteen. He was named as a Major in the Sri Lanka Army Volunteer Force attached to the Gajaba Regiment in October 2020.

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Early career

Thisara Perera began his cricket career as a youth at St. Anthony's College in Wattala. He later attended the prestigious St. Joseph's College in Colombo, which has produced Sri Lankan cricketers like Chaminda Valiantas, Angelo Mathews, and Dimuth Karunaratne. He has played for Sri Lanka at several youth levels and was chosen for the 2008 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup. He made his first class debut for the Colts Cricket Club in November 2008. In 18 U19 ODIs, he has taken up 41 wickets. He is also the leading wicket taker for Sri Lanka's under-19 team, despite not owning a fifer in his career.

International career

In December 2009, Perera made his international debut for Sri Lanka, despite a late call-up to play in an ODI against India in Kolkata. In August 2010, he made his first five-wicket haul in international cricket, making him the player of the match award in an ODI triumph over India. In an ODI against Australia on the same tour, he took five wickets.

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 that lost in the tournament by India's final, scoring 22 not out of ten deliveries and taking the wicket of Gautam Gambhir. He was not selected for the Test series against Pakistan later this year, being held only for the ODI and Twenty20 teams, but he was called to the Test team for South Africa's end-of-year series. He played superb late-order hitting and became the first person to take 6 wickets against Pakistan in an ODI in the 2nd ODI of 2012 - his career record. Man of the Match was named after his appearance, as well as the Man of the Match. He stunned Pakistan by taking a hat-trick and executing a run-out in his maiden ODI of the same series, becoming the first Sri Lankan to record a hat-trick against Pakistan.

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

Perera scored his first century in ODIs against New Zealand on January 5th, 2019, 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 by a batsman in an ODI match.

He was selected in Sri Lanka's Test squad for a series against England. At Sophia Gardens, Cardiff, he made his debut in the first Test of the series. He scored 25 and 20 with the bat in an innings loss and took no wickets. He was not selected for the Test series against Pakistan later this year, being suspended only for the ODI and Twenty20 teams, but he was recalled to the Test team for South Africa's end-of-year tour. He played in all three Tests of the season, scoring 81 runs and taking five wickets.

He made his Twenty20 international debut in May 2010 in the West Indies, representing Sri Lanka in the ICC World Twenty202020. He was a member of the Sri Lankan team that sparked Australia's first defeat in a Twenty20 international in Australia in October 2010, bringing up Sri Lanka's final 16 runs to win the match off three deliveries.

Perera was also involved in the 2014 ICC World Twenty2020I World Twenty2020 championship, Sri Lanka's first World T20I title. Perera had an unbeaten partnership with Kumar Sangakkara in the final innings, with whom he also crossed the winning boundary.

In a T20I series against India, he scored his fourth overall and first by a Sri Lankan, he had a hat-trick on February 12, 2016. However, he was out for nought in batting, and Sri Lanka lost the match by 69 runs.

He has played the most T20I innings (45) for Sri Lanka without scoring a T20I fifty, as well as the most T20I runs for Sri Lanka without breaking any fifties.

He also holds the record for Sri Lanka's highest individual score when batting at number 7 or lower in Twenty20 International (49) and also joint the highest score batting at number 8 in T20I with Angelo Mathews (335*).

In August 2017, he was chosen in a World XI team to compete in three Twenty20 International matches against Pakistan in Lahore's 2017 Independence Cup. Perera took 2 wickets and won by 7 wickets in the second T20I of the series, bringing the World XI's second T20I. Five major sixes were praised, and Perera received the man of the match award for his match-winning all-round results.

He was selected in the Rest of the World XI squad for the one-off T20I against the West Indies in April 2018, which will be played at Lord's on May 31.

He was appointed captain for Sri Lanka in October 2017, against Pakistan, in a 3 match T20I series. Upul Tharanga, Sri Lanka Cricket's captain, had announced that the match in Lahore would take place as planned, but that security reasons had prevented it from taking place. Thilanga Sumathipala, the team's president, was privileged to be in Pakistan and that he would assist the country in staging more tours. Najam Sethi, chairman of the PCB, said that this tournament would be the start of international cricket back to the country, with him predicting that every country will play in Pakistan by the end of 2020. Despite all those efforts, Sri Lanka suffered another whitewash and lost the T20I series 3–0.

Perera was named Sri Lanka's captain for the ODI and T20I matches against India on November 29, 2017, replacing Upul Tharanga. Under Tharanga's captaincy's captaincy, the change came due to poor results and whitewash losses.

In the first ODI against India at Dharamsala, he became his first ODI captaincy. Perera won the toss and was chosen to field first in the match. The findings were full of truth, with Suranga Lakmal leading Sri Lankan pacers beating the Indian batting line up. India was down for 39 runs at one point, but MS Dhoni paced the innings to reach India's total over hundred. And as the last wicket of the innings, India achieved 112 runs and Perera took Dhoni. This 112 was ranked as India's third lowest in ODIs at home and their lowest at home when batting first. Sri Lanka won the match by 7 wickets and ended their 12-ODI loss streak as well. And, in the end, Sri Lanka lost the ODI series 1–2. Sri Lanka suffered a 3 loss whitewash by giving six consecutive losses under Perera's captaincy.

He was one of 33 cricketers to be granted a national contract by Sri Lanka Cricket in May 2018 before the 2018-19 season.

Perera was the rescue man for Sri Lanka during the 3-match ODI series against New Zealand. Jimmy Neesham thrashed him for 34 runs in the penultimate over (6, 6, 6, 6, 6 1). Thisara finished with 10-80-2 after starting the game off with figures of 9-0-46-22.

Perera's maiden ODI century was his best in the second ODI century, breaking several world records. His century of 57 balls was the fastest against New Zealand. Perera's 13 sixes beat a Sri Lankan record of 11, which had been held by Sanath Jayasuriya since 1996. Perera thrashed 13 sixes and eight fours on his way to 140 off 74 balls, his joint highest individual score against New Zealand since 1994 (along with Jayasuriya's 140 in 1994). Sri Lanka lost the match by 21 runs despite Perera's onslaught, where he dismissed as the last wicket in 47th over. His 13 sixes is the most sixes by a batsman on the losing side of ODIs. Perera was voted man of the match after a superb batting effort.

Perera continued his heroics in the third ODI with a quick 80. New Zealand batted first and then announced mighty 364 on the board. The Sri Lankan chase got off to a promising start, but wickets at regular intervals slowed the progress. Perera was crashing three sixes and seven fours in his 80 runs, but he was soon dismissed by a spectacular catch by Martin Guptill. Sri Lanka lost the match by 113 runs and ended the series 3–0.

He was selected in Sri Lanka's squad for the 2019 Cricket World Cup in April 2019. Perera was named as the key player of Sri Lanka's squad for the tournament by the International Cricket Council (ICC).

Perera revealed on May 3rd 2021 that he had resigned from all aspects of international cricket. Following a salary dispute with the Sri Lanka Cricket Board, he resigned from international cricket, and SLC's decision to ban several key players from the national team was revealed, as a result of a string of limited overs matches that are limiting and provide opportunities to the youngsters.

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