Kusal Perera stunned the fans and experts alike when he pulled off a miracle win for Sri Lanka by one wicket in the first Test against South Africa at Durban on Saturday.
Kusal Perera and Vishwa Fernando put up a record 78-run partnership for the final wicket to snatch the victory from South Africa.
Perera smashed an unbeaten 153 runs to chase down the target of 304 runs and to take an unbeatable 1-0 lead at the Kingsmead Stadium. It is also Perera’s second hundred in the longest format of the game and also his highest score in Tests.
“I’m still tired now. I don’t know what to say. Great effort as a team, specially the lower order batsmen. They gave me good support. I believed in myself and we did. I did my part, winning as a team. We did our homework. This is a special win for us. We did a lot of hard work in previous times,” Perera said after winning the Man of the Match award.
Highest innings in one-wicket wins in Test cricket:
153* Brian Lara (WI v Aus, Bridgetown, 1999)
153* KUSAL PERERA (SL v SA, Durban, 2019)
138* Inzamam-ul-Haq (Pak v Ban, Multan, 2003)#SAvSL— Rajneesh Gupta (@rgcricket) February 16, 2019
It was also Sri Lanka’s first win in Durban in seven years. This is only the second time when the Islanders have won any Test match at the venue.
“I did something … I did my part. But we won as a team. The partnerships in the whole innings were great – that’s why we were able to chase 304. You can’t just mention one person or partnership. Even if you scored one run, that counted to the win. All XI of us had to bat. It’s the best Test I’ve played for Sri Lanka,” he added.