Kusal Perera has been a vital cog in Sri Lanka’s scheme of things for a fairly long time now. The destructive wicketkeeper-batsman has the ability to change the outlook ok a game within the span of a few overs. His absence, due to the ban imposed on him by the ICC for sanctions on doping, definitely hurt Sri Lanka’s cause in the ICC World T20 and the T20 Asia Cup. Sri Lanka dearly missed having Perera around as they lacked his explosive starts at the top.
Perera though, soon approached a UK based Law firm to represent him against the sanctions and soon won the case. As a result, the ICC soon dropped all charges against Perera, and the wicketkeeper now is available for selection again.
Former Sri Lankan wicketkeeper Kumar Sangakkara spoke about Perera and backed the southpaw for selection in international cricket. “Before this tour he would have been in the T20 World Cup, opening up with Tillakaratne Dilshan, which would have been a huge advantage,” said Sangakkara.
“I’m extremely confused as to what’s happened. The labs in Qatar came back with an adverse finding in one of his urine samples and they named him, with the steroid that was found. Suddenly, over the last two days, they’ve withdrawn that and said ‘we might have made a mistake’. “The poor boy has been out for quite a long time. He’s very young, 25, one of the most exciting talents we have,” Sangakkara added.
Sangakkara hoped that Perera would be back soon and back at his best. “But the sad fact is that I think, when you are provisionally banned, you can’t even train or use the facilities that international teams use.” “Unfortunately, Sri Lanka have lost a remarkable player for quite a long time now and hopefully he’ll have a very successful career from here on in,” said Sangakkara.