Having tasted great success in franchise cricket in recent times, Thisara Perera will be the sought after player in the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) mega auctions, scheduled to be held on February 12 and 13 in Bengaluru.
Perera fondly remembers playing with "brother" Dhoni not only once but twice in IPL. Not only did Perera play with Dhoni in 2010 for CSK, but the duo was also re-united for Rising Pune Supergiants in 2016 with the Sri Lankan terming the World Cup-winning India skipper as "one of the best captains" in his career.
“I remember a special incident with MS Dhoni for Rising Pune Supergiants, in 2016, and that is where I felt that Dhoni is like my brother. In one of the matches, we were 35-5, and I came down to bat. MS was the non-striker. He walked up to me and said, 'Hi, TP. Let's just bat',” Perera said.
"I defended my first ball and he comes to me knocking the pitch - 'Hey, TP. What are you doing?' I said, 'I am just watching the ball.' The reply from him was very special, something which I didn't expect with the sort of scorecard we were having at that time. 'No, no. I picked you because you can hit the ball miles away. Go explode'. And from there on, I was just hitting every ball. I got around 18-ball 40 or something, which took the momentum away from the opposition. MS played until the 20th over and we scored around 170 or 180 from 35-5. And that is why it is always special to play under MS. He is one of the best captains, I have played under in my career," Perera recalled with a beaming smile.
Perera had a reasonable season with the bat in hand, having scored 150 runs from 10 innings at an average of 21.42 and a strike rate of 161.29. The veteran also accounted for nine scalps at an economy rate of 9.82. Perera, who called it a day from international cricket in May 2021, hailed Dhoni as one of the best skippers he has played under in his career.
"IPL 2010 was really special for Chennai Super Kings when I played under MS Dhoni's captaincy. We won the IPL that year. That was the best year in IPL despite being my first season. I was just 20 or 21 back then but it was extremely fun to, you know, simply run around them and enjoy the sport we all love," Perera recalled while adding that no league can match the levels of IPL.
"I feel, no one can match the level of IPL. I have played a lot of franchise cricket around the world, and IPL is the best," he added.
Having registered himself at a base price of INR 50 lakh, Perera is hopeful of finding suitors for him in the much-awaited IPL mega auction, especially when there are not many experienced all-rounders present in the list of registered players for the tournament. While Perera's international career was plagued with inconsistency, he feels he is at the best stage of his career in terms of producing all-round performance consistently for his team.
"I hope that I will get picked in the IPL. I did well in Lanka Premier League and now doing well in Bangladesh Premier League. My gut feeling is, I will find a team but you never know. I am not focusing on that much because that is not in my hands. All I can do is hope," Perera further added.
