In a bid to be a strong force in the 2019 World Cup, Sri Lanka are banking heavily on all-rounder Thisara Perera hoping that he will go on to become a match winner in cricket’s showpiece event which is less than 18 months away.
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Although Perera was appointed as limited-overs captain in December, it was more or less by default. There have been questions about his place in the side, particularly in ODIs, where he averages 17 with the bat and 32 with the ball. However, with the arrival of Chandika Hathurusingha as the Head Coach, he looks a different player.
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Predominantly an on-side player, Perera was seen manoeuvring the ball on the off-side as well in the recent tri-nation competition in Bangladesh and his shot selection, in particular, was impressive. His bowling also looked a lot more disciplined as he was named the Player of the Series. Perera bagged 11 wickets at an average of 17 and scored 134 runs at an average of 44 striking those at the rate of 154.
Sri Lanka’s batting coach Thilan Samaraweera explained that the team is expecting big things from Perera and the coaching staff is helping him to become more effective.
“Basically the Head Coach had a chat with him and made him realise his potential. Then we started working on his game. Rumesh Ratnayake, the fast bowling coach, made a few adjustments to his run-up. Then we explained what is expected of him with the bat and he was backed to bat at No.6. It is our firm belief that he has a massive role to play for Sri Lankan cricket moving forward,” Samaraweera told in an interview to Cricbuzz.
“We are confident that he will go onto become a leading match-winner for us. We are obviously targeting 2019 World Cup. If you take the top six batters in the side, we don’t have too many who could bowl and obviously, there are doubts about Angelo Mathews being able to bowl as well. So we are expecting big things from Thisara. Everything that we do, we are planning targeting the World Cup.”
Although he has not retired from Test cricket, Perera is not a big fan of the longer format. His last first-class game was more than four years ago, but the team management is trying to get him to play some first-class cricket in order to improve his game.
“We have a plan to get him play a few first-class games. It all depends on how much he is available and stuff, but we would like him to play a few First Class games. Playing red ball cricket is helpful although the skills are different. You learn things like improving on your stock ball when it comes to bowling and when it comes to batting, it teaches you to play long innings,” Samaraweera explained.
There’s been never a doubt about Perera’s ability, but the 28-year-old has underachieved. However, with the arrival of Hathurusingha, Perera seems to have turned a new page in his career.
