Kusal Perera plays all forms of the game for the Sri Lanka national cricket team, and currently one of the permanent top order batsman in all formats.
77 Facts About Kusal Perera
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Kusal Perera was a key member of the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 winning team.
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Kusal Perera smashed 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.
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Kusal Perera made his Indian Premier League debut playing for Rajasthan Royals in the 2013 IPL season.
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Kusal Perera 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.
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Kusal Perera was a part of a 15-man squad that toured Australia in January 2013.
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Kusal Perera 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.
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Kusal 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.
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Kusal Perera made his Test debut for Sri Lanka against India on 28 August 2015.
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Kusal Perera 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.
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On 31 March 2013, T20I match during Bangladesh tour of Sri Lanka, Kusal Perera scored his maiden T20I half century.
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Kusal Perera scored 64 from 44 balls hitting five boundaries and four sixes.
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Sri Lanka won the match by 17 runs and Kusal Perera won man of the match award for his performance.
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On 21 November 2013, New Zealand tour of Sri Lanka, Kusal Perera scored his second T20I half century.
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Finally Sri Lanka won the match by 8 wickets and Kusal Perera won the man of the match award for his performance.
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Sri Lanka won the match by 24 runs and Kusal Perera earned the Man of the Match for the performance.
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Kusal Perera hit his maiden ODI ton against Bangladesh on 22 February 2014.
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Kusal Perera scored 106 from 124 balls before getting bowled By Rubel Hossain.
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On 12 February 2014, against Bangladesh Kusal Perera scored his fourth T20I half century.
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Kusal Perera scored 64 runs from 44 balls hitting seven boundaries and one six.
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Finally Sri Lanka won the match by 2 runs and Kusal Perera won man of the match award for his performance.
22.
On 22 March 2014 against South Africa in 2014 ICC World Twenty20 pool match, Kusal Perera scored 61 runs from just 40 balls.
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Sri Lanka won the match by 5 runs and Kusal Perera won the Man of The Match award.
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Kusal Perera scored 125 runs in the tournament at an average of 20.83 and an impressive strike rate of 145.48.
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Kusal Perera had some quick runs in the next matches, but failed to effect larger to the team.
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Kusal Perera was not qualified for the squad for 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup tournament due to poor performance against India and England.
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Kusal Perera played his first World Cup match against Scotland on 11 March 2015, where he scored quick 24 runs.
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Kusal Perera was replaced to this match due to injury for Dinesh Chandimal against Australia.
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Kusal Perera opened the batting for Sri Lanka on quarter finals of the World Cup, where he failed again to score runs, only scored 3 runs.
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Kusal Perera just lost the first match for quick 26 runs in Dambulla.
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The shots of Kusal Perera was described by the international commentators as the dawn of a new Little Sana, with just the same aggressive batting by Sanath in the past.
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The strike rate of Kusal Perera's innings was 272 and it is the highest strike rate in an innings of 50 or more runs by a Sri Lanka batsman in ODIs, which he surpassed his master Jayasuriya's strike rate of 271.42 in 1996 against same opposition.
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Sri Lanka scored 92 in 9 overs in the match until Kusal Perera departs to 25-ball 68 runs, where Sri Lanka chased down 287 runs and won the match by 2 wickets at the end.
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Kusal Perera is the fourth Sri Lankan player to get out in 99 in ODIs, the other three are Kaluwitharana single time, Jayasuriya in two times, and Dilshan single time.
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Kusal Perera is the 29th of all cricketers to dismissed in 99.
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Kusal Perera was included to the original squad for 2017 ICC Champions Trophy and played first two pool games as well.
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However, during the match against India, Kusal Perera suffered by a hamstring injury and he retired hurt after scoring 47 runs.
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Kusal Perera was immediately ruled out of the Champions Trophy and Dhananjaya de Silva was replaced Kusal in the tournament.
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Kusal Perera was ruled out of the Bangladesh Tri-series after a side strain occurred during his 49 runs against Zimbabwe on 21 January 2018.
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Kusal Perera initially tested positive for a banned substance and was recalled from the New Zealand tour in December 2015.
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Kusal Perera said that he took some medicine for a leech bite.
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On 25 December 2015, the results of the B sample came back and it revealed that Kusal Perera was positive for the banned substance.
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Kusal Perera had spent some of his own money on fighting the charges, including travelling to the UK to undergo further tests to clear his name.
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Kusal Perera played for the third test at Lord's and scored 42 runs in the first innings.
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Kusal Perera scored his maiden Test century on 29 October 2016, against Zimbabwe in the first Test against the, at Harare.
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Kusal Perera devastated the Zimbabwean bowling attack for 15 fours and two sixes, including taking debutant Carl Mumba for five fours in an over after the tea break.
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Kusal Perera was renamed to the squad in late March 2017 for Bangladesh limited over series, however could not play in ODI series due to hamstring injury.
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Kusal Perera marked his comeback by strong note with match winning 77 runs off 55 balls, where Sri Lanka won the match by 6 wickets.
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Sri Lanka won the match and Kusal Perera was awarded with man of the match.
50.
On 16 March 2018 against Bangladesh in the Tri-series, Kusal Perera recorded his tenth T20I fifty by equaling second most number of T20I fifties by a Sri Lankan.
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Kusal Perera became the first player to score 5 T20I fifties against a same opposition after registering the most number of T20I fifties by any player in T20I history.
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Kusal Perera was immediately rushed to hospital for a scan.
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On next day, team manager Gurusinha spokes that, Kusal Perera has cleared from serious injuries.
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On fifth day of the match, Kusal Perera came into bat for the sixth wicket, where Sri Lanka still required more than 60 runs to win the match and level the series.
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Kusal Perera had several bandages around the chest region and showed some pain during the match.
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Kusal Perera was replaced by Kusal Mendis in both ODIs and T20Is.
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On 3 January 2019 against New Zealand, Kusal Perera scored his fourth ODI century.
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On 16 February 2019, Kusal Perera scored his second test century by giving a thrilling win against South Africa.
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Kusal Perera scored a fifty in the first innings and in the second innings, South Africa posted 304 runs to win the match.
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Finally, Vishwa Fernando came to the crease as last batsman, where Kusal Perera started to accelerate the innings.
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Kusal Perera scored unbeaten 153 runs and secure a thrilling one wicket win.
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Kusal Perera's innings is considered as one of the greatest chases in the history of the game.
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Kusal Perera won the man of the match award for match winning batting performance.
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Kusal Perera finished the tournament as the leading run-scorer for Sri Lanka, with 273 runs in seven matches.
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On July 26,2019, Bangladesh tour of Sri Lanka, in 1st ODI match Kusal Perera scored his 5th ODI century.
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Kusal Perera scored 111 runs including 17 boundaries and one six.
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On November 1,2019,3rd T20I match of Sri Lanka tour of Australia, Kusal Perera scored fighting half century.
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Kusal Perera was the highest run scorer in the series for Sri Lankan scoring 100 runs in three matches with average of 33.33.
69.
On 4 March 2020 during first T20I against West Indies, Kusal Perera scored his 12th T20I fifty.
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However Kusal Perera dismissed for 66 off 38 and Hasaranga for 44 off 34, West Indies finally won the match by 25 runs.
71.
In May 2021, Kusal Perera was appointed as the new ODI captain of Sri Lanka.
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However, in third ODI on 28 May 2021, Kusal Perera scored his sixth ODI century and guided team to a commanding total of 286.
73.
In September 2021, Kusal Perera was named in Sri Lanka's squad for the 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup.
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Kusal Perera hit six boundaries and brought 8 wicket victory for Sri Lanka.
75.
On 2nd April 2023, Kusal Perera came to the T20 squad after 15 months after recovering from his injuries.
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Kusal Perera scored his 13th T20I half century against New Zealand.
77.
Kusal Perera is the highest run scorer in this series for Sri Lanka scoring 121 runs including one half century with the average of 60.50.