MATCH STORIES
Follow Us“The dawn of a new Little Sana”
That’s exactly what the commentators used to describe a 24-year-old talented left-handed swashbuckling batter. He had just smashed a 17-ball fifty, emulating an age-old feat by none other than Sri Lanka’s gold standard for aggression - Sanath Jayasuriya.
That talented batter was none other than Kusal Janith Perera. Life hasn’t been all smooth sailing for the left-hander, who once was compared with the best but was left to the rest of the country when he wasn’t picked in the 15-man squad for the T20 World Cup 2024.
At the age of 33, a return never seemed as evident on the horizon, given that Kusal Mendis and Pathum Nissanka had an amazing rapport at the top of the order for the Islanders. Perera wasn’t even anymore considered a top talent in his own country’s domestic franchise competition.
It was all going downhill. But then everything changed when Dambulla’s ownership changed.
What shook was Perera’s fortunes. From nowhere, he was amongst the first names on the wishlist of the Sixers. But when the left-hander went back to the dressing room without hurting the scorers, with a duck against Kandy, even the faithful would have twitched their eye.
Was it the right move?
But against the eventual champions, Jaffna Kings, Perera showed the Sri Lankan selectors exactly what the Island nation is missing: aggression. Sri Lanka has always been a country of grace and technically correct players but such aggression hasn’t been seen since Jayasuriya pulled the plug from his playing days.
The left-hander smacked a 50-ball century against Charith Asalanka’s men, with 10 fours and five sixes, showing the world that he has still got it, finishing with a strike rate of 196.15, in an otherwise team scorecard reading: 81.81, 114.28 and 143.47.
He was that difference on the night, and his batting was a real difference in the tournament, with 296 runs with the best strike rate for any Sri Lankan opener in the LPL 2024 (169.1).
“Players like Kusal Janith Perera and Dinesh Chandimal, who performed well in the LPL, have been considered as well as 21-year-old all-rounder Chamindu Wickramasinghe,” said Tharanga prior to the series.
Thus far in the series, Perera showed his worth, weighed in gold. While he might have scored just 20 off 14 balls in the first T20I, what really differentiated him was that aggression. A day later, on July 28 (Sunday), the left-hander yet again showed why the selectors were right.
Perera walked into bat in the fourth over of the innings and immediately was at work with a first-ball boundary. But when put up against Mohammed Siraj, the 33-year-old rolled back the clock with a pull over backward square that stunned the Indians.
Had you stopped at that very moment and looked at how the left-hander shaped up, you would have mistaken it for a highlight from Jayasuriya’s best. A delivery later, he put up a perfect Kumar Sangakkara impression with a drive as straight as an arrow.
Throughout his stay at the crease, Perera constantly reminded us why he was once considered the Little Sana; his strokes had an uncanny resemblance. Those forceful flicks, the powerful pick-up shots, a cut that could pierce diamonds, and putting up a fight like a mad bull —Perera was at it all.
When the young blood Kamindu Mendis came out attacking, Perera took the backseat but never let the aggression fall through before completing his half-century in fine fashion. It was that trademark swivel and pull that took Perera to his 14th half-century, the joint-most for a Sri Lankan batter.
It was also his eighth half-century in the Island nation. Perera was no longer little, but he did roll back the years to raise Sanath Jayasuriya from his chair and applaud his stay at the crease.
Life came to a full circle as Jayasuriya, the interim head coach, gave his nod of approval.
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