Thisara Perera, the Sri Lanka all-rounder, announced his retirement from international cricket with immediate effect on Monday (3 May).
Thisara Perera announces his Retirement
A powerful hitter of the white-ball, Perera was an all-rounder and had been a vital cog in the Sri Lankan cricket team.
Perera thanked his teammates, captains, and members of the SLC for their support.
“I take pride in the fact that I was able to represent Sri Lanka in seven cricket world cups and be a contributing member of the 2014 T20 World Cup win against India in Bangladesh. Easily the highlight of my life,’’ Perera mentioned in his letter.
🏅 2014 @T20WorldCup winner
🎩 Hat-tricks in both ODIs and T20Is
🔥 An all-rounder par excellenceSri Lanka’s @PereraThisara has announced his retirement from international cricket! pic.twitter.com/NxrZxH4Rpa
— ICC (@ICC) May 3, 2021
Sri Lanka Cricket thanked a former captain of the limited-overs side, adding they “dearly value the immeasurable services rendered by him to the game.”
“Thisara was a brilliant all-rounder, who has contributed immensely as a player to Sri Lanka Cricket and played a part in some of the glorious cricketing moments of the country,’ said Ashley De Silva, CEO of Sri Lanka Cricket.
While he will no longer turn out for Sri Lanka, the 32-year-old Perera has confirmed he will continue to play franchise cricket.
The selectors of Sri Lanka earlier made a statement, that that they are considering dropping various senior players from the side for their commencing Bangladesh and ODI tour.
As per the reports of NewsWire, a senior SLC official stated that the selectors are unlikely to consider Dimuth Karunaratne, Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal, Suranga Lakmal, and Thisara Perera for the upcoming outings for limited-overs cricket.
Perera made his debut for Sri Lanka in an ODI against India in Kolkata in December 2009. Since then, he has been a white-ball regular for Sri Lanka. He scored 2338 runs and picked up 175 wickets in ODIs. In T20Is, he scored 1204 runs and took 51 wickets.
Perera will be remembered for his explosive batting down the order besides the medium pace that earned him 175 ODI wickets in 166 outings. The former Sri Lanka captain also smashed 2,338 ODI runs with 10 fifties and a hundred.
The Sri Lankan all-rounder played his last Test match against Pakistan in the year 2012 but kept on being an active member of Sri Lanka’s limited-overs squad. He was part of the Lanka squad that won the 2014 ICC World T20.
Also read: Sri Lanka vs Bangladesh Test Schedule, Venue, Broadcast, and Live Streaming Details
