Dilruwan Perera

Born on July 22, 1982, Dilruwan Perera is an off-break bowler and a right-handed batsman. He made his debut for the Panadura SC and toured Australia with the U-19 team. Perera made rapid progress and made it to the Sri Lanka 'A' team in 2001. He was part of the Chilaw Marians Cricket Club and picked a horde of wickets at the U-23 level as he snapped up 55 wickets in just 7 matches in 2004.

Perera is known for his off-breaks and the arm-ball which he uses to deceive the batsmen in a regular manner. He used them to good effect to snap up 7 wickets for Pandura SC against Galle SC paving the way into the Sri Lanka 'A' team for the tour of England in 2007. He had a decent tour with both bat and ball and followed it up with another good 'A' tour of Zimbabwe.

A great admirer of Muttiah Muralitharan and Saqlain Mushtaq, Perera has benefited a lot under the guidance of Murali as well as the coaching imparted in the Sri Lankan spin academy under the expert guidance of Ashley Mallett and Ruwan Kalpage.

The presence of a certain Murali meant that Perera got very little opportunities to represent Sri Lanka. He was called up for the Sri Lankan squad for the inaugural T20 world cup in 2007 after Murali was injured but did not get a game. He has played a handful of ODI's without any reasonable success although he continues to remain a key player for the Colombo Colts in the domestic league. With the retirement of Murali, he was called up for the T20 series at home against Australia in 2011 and returned with impressive figures of 3/26 in the first match. But the white ball stuff has never been his forte

Dilruwan was handed his Test debut against Pakistan in the UAE in January 2014, nearly seven years after winning his maiden ODI cap. Though he could manage only one wicket with the ball, he let his bat do the talking, scoring an attritional 95 at Number 8. Dilruwan, the offie, came to the party in the next Test as he took a 5-fer with Sri Lanka registering their second largest ever Test win, mauling Bangladesh by an innings and 248 runs in Mirpur.

And then began his famed partnership with Rangana Herath. His five-wicket haul in the first innings at Galle in 2014 against Pakistan paved the way for an easy win. Lanka won that series 2-0. A 10-fer in a Test against the Aussies gave Sri Lanka the series as they took an unassailable lead in the three-match series. Perera also contributed 64 runs with the bat in the second innings, making it a game to remember. By doing so, Dilruwan Perera became the first Sri Lankan player to score a fifty (or more) and take ten wickets in a Test. He ended up picking with 15 wickets in that series.

Meanwhile he did struggle in the home and away series against India in 2017, picking up only 10 wickets from 6 games. But his offies have not only been his form of contribution for the team. His runs with the bat in tough times lower down the order has also made him a vital wicket for the opposition.

In December 2017, Dilruwan became the fastest Sri Lankan and seventh overall to take 100 Test wickets or more. He achieved the feat in his 25th game, two fewer than the great Muralitharan, who had held the record.

By Pradeep Krishnamurthy and Kumar Abhisekh Das