Can Kusal Perera take Sanath Jayasuriya's role ?

Can Kusal Perera take Sanath Jayasuriya's role in the game of Lankan Style ? cricnews

After 75 year history of Sri Lankan Cricket a hurricane hit Sri Lankan cricket last week , Kusal Janith Perera, a 22 year-old left-handed batsman and wicket-keeper blasted 336 off 275 balls for Colts CC against Saracens at Havelock Park, Colombo. The innings featured savage hitting with 14 sixes and 29 fours.The innings is the highest score in the Sri Lankan domestic competition. It is also the only triple century in the 75 year history of the Sri Lankan domestic competition. Domestic cricket in Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon) was not recorded as first-class until the 1988-89 season, but there were no triple centuries in club cricket before that. The only other triple centuries in Sri Lankan first-class cricket were at Test level - Sanath Jayasuriya’s 340 against India in 1997 and Mahela Jayawardena’s 375 against South Africa in 2006.

Kusal Perera made his international debut against Australia in the ODI series this year. who, at 22, has just played 7 odis and 3 two twenty-20 for Sri Lanka. He scored 66 from 44 balls with massive 4 six’s and  5 four’s against Bangladesh in the first T20 match played at Pallekale stadium. More interestingly, he came in to the national team as a middle order batsman, whose first skill was to be a wicket keeper. But, just after 9 international games, his wicket keeping skills has been pushed back, and as a pure batsman he is regarded as a new ‘ Jayasuriya ’.

His excellent timing and quick footwork impressed instantly. Kusal Jenith Perera not just reminds of great Sanath Jayasuriya with his aggression, but his batting style is also similar to great men. Comparisons were drawn with another left-hander with a similar build and approach - Jayasuriya. Like Jayasuriya, Perera is a particularly strong square of the wicket. However, Perera plays straighter and with a more upright elbow.

He does share Jayasuriya’s hunger for tall scores. At 19, Jayasuriya announced his talent on the Sri Lanka B tour of Pakistan in 1989 by scoring two successive double centuries. Kusal Perera’s last three first-class innings are 93, 207, and 336. Clearly, Perera has the water-tight defence to add to his awesome hitting ability.

The uniqueness of Kusal Perera’s achievement is that the likes of Aravinda de Silva, Sanath Jayasuriya, and Duleep Mendis never came close to a triple century in club cricket. The legends in the pre-Test era such as Anura Tennakoon, C.I. Gunasekera, David Heyn, and Michael Tissera fell far short of a triple century. Mahadevan Sathasivam, the island’s finest pre-Test batsman, scored two double centuries, but not in club cricket. Very few players manage to attract the spectators as well as critics from the beginning of their career. Kusal Jenith Perera, Sri Lanka’s new opener in shorter formats of the game, has not only impressed the whole cricketing world, but he also brought a new debate in Sri Lanka and outside : that his style of playing strokes is so similar to his country’s greatest intertainer Sanath Jayasuriya, that sometimes he just look like a clone of him.

 “ Not only the style, in which he plays his strokes are similar to Sanath, but the way he grips his bat, is also reminds of great men” said brian murgatroid, tv commentator, during the third ODI and T20  in Pallekelle. During that match, his pick up shot over bowler’s head for the six, was again a reminder of Sanath, according to many other cricket observers. Just like Sanath, he uses the bottom hand with great effect, while launching his Audacious shots. Moreover, it’s not just about technical similarities, but the manner, in which he attacks the bowlers, is looks exact to great  Sanath Jayasuriya man who changed the environment of game of cricket.