Kusal Perera

Some Lesser Known Facts About Kusal Perera

• Kusal Perera liked playing cricket since childhood.

• He played for his school teams where he learnt the basic skills of the sport. In 2013, he played for College Colombo in the Royal-Thomian annual cricket match.

  

• When he started playing, he played as a right-handed batsman. But he was inspired by the Sri Lankan legend, Sanath Jayasuriya and became a left-handed batter.

• In a first-class match, he scored 330 runs in 270 balls.

• Rajasthan Royals acquired him for $20,000 in the 2013 Indian Premier League (IPL) auction.

• He later played for Sri Lanka in the 2014 T20 World Cup held in Bangladesh which they won. In 6 matches, he scored 125 runs at an average of 20.83 and a strike rate of 145.48.

• On 15 July 2015, he scored the second-fastest ODI fifty (tied with Sanath Jayasuriya, behind AB de Villiers) by hitting a half-century in 17 balls against Pakistan.

  

• Between December 2015 and May 2016, he fought against the drug charges which were levelled against him.

• In May 2018, the Sri Lankan Cricket (SLC) Board signed a central contract with him.

• In February 2019, he was hit on the helmet by a Jhye Richardson bouncer during a test match in Canberra. He decided to play on but retired hurt from playing 4 balls later.

• He was the highest runscorer for Sri Lanks in the 2019 ODI World Cup held in England & Wales with 273 runs in 7 matches.

  

• In April 2019, he donated Rs 1 lakh Sri Lankan Rupees to Rashmi Nimesha Gunawardhana, who topped the OL exam.
  

  

• In May 2021, he became the captain of the Sri Lankan ODI team.

• During the 2021 T20 World Cup held in the United Arab Emirates and Oman, he became the first Sri Lankan to hit 50 sixes during his innings of 35 runs against Australia.

• In August 2021, he moved to the Police Cricket Club in domestic Sri Lanka cricket after playing 12 seasons for the Colts.

• In May 2022, there were allegations that he and his club Police SC poached players from other clubs by offering ranks in the police department.

• In September 2022, he underwent shoulder surgery in London, England. There were reports that the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) Board refused to bear the cost of his surgery.
  

  

• SLC later clarified that they had told Perera to not play any competitive cricket in July, but he played in LPL due to which his injury worsened. However, they later paid a major amount for his surgery.

• In January 2024, he was appointed as a Chief Inspector in the Sri Lanka Police Department.
  

  

• In the 2025 IPL mega auction, he went unsold for his base price of Rs 75 lakhs.

• On 2 January 2025, during a T20I match against New Zealand at Nelson, he scored 101 runs in 46 balls. He scored the fastest T20 century by a Sri Lankan batsman in 44 deliveries only.

• He helped them win the match, after 17 years as they had not won in New Zealand since 2006.