As he pocketed the ESPNcricinfo award for best test innings of 2019 beating Ben stokes, Kusal Perera still has not even secured his place in the test side.
He was dismissed after Pakistani tour where he never played any role but being a mere traveler, and De Mel cited several facts for his exclusion
- Kusal was nursing a minor injury
- Kusal needs to regain form
- Kusal does not occupy the crease although he can deliver a random 150
- Kusal is not in playing XI so it will be a pure waste of time for him
- Kusal should focus as the main wicket-keeper and opener of shorter form as 2020 is a WC year.
The last one combined with the first gives a fair reasoning itself. Knowing his injury history, Zimbabwe - a noticeably low key and non-accounted tour - is surely not worth risking his chances for the WC. And that may be further backed by his absence from domestic games since then, perhaps due to injury.
But the question is whether he has at least reserved the squad selection for upcoming England tests.
Here comes the need to regain form and the comment that he does not occupy the crease. His miraculous Durban test produced 51 and 153. But that is followed by 20, 1, 23, 0, 0 where the last double ducks have been in the test against NZL that SL badly wanted a middle-order batsman to save it. Looking into past before the Durban test you need to pass 10 innings to see a half-century. Among them was a match-winning 23 unbeaten in WI, but all the other innings were very short, mostly out for rash shots.
Kusal was playing no 5 in SA as Chandimal was out dropped and Angelo was injured. Both these players have come back. Chandimal not only occupies Kusal's no 5 position but also fills the extra wicket-keeper role. You cannot say that he has done amazingly well, but it is safe to say that his half-century in Pakistan and match-saving stay in Harare should at least be enough to retain the position against England.
Adding to the complexity, Roshen Silva is back playing FC cricket. Although he has done nothing exceptional yet, his impressive batting average and match-saving skills will be at high demand against England in home tests, where Roshen shows more skill to play.
If anyone else is needed to replace Lahiru Thirimanna, the little kid who hasn't stopped performing - Pathum Nissanka - has scored another century to his long list of impressive knocks that decorate his ultra-impressive FC average of 65. He is a wicket-keeper too and should have been selected ahead of Oshadha, if not for some error in De Mel maths.
Where is Kusal Perera gonna fit? And why should he play tests? Because Harsha Bhogle laughed at SL, or because Kusal really won the ESPNcricinfo award?
Only he can fix this. He has to be better than someone in the test team. At the age of 29, he will have to show it pretty quickly.
He was dismissed after Pakistani tour where he never played any role but being a mere traveler, and De Mel cited several facts for his exclusion
- Kusal was nursing a minor injury
- Kusal needs to regain form
- Kusal does not occupy the crease although he can deliver a random 150
- Kusal is not in playing XI so it will be a pure waste of time for him
- Kusal should focus as the main wicket-keeper and opener of shorter form as 2020 is a WC year.
The last one combined with the first gives a fair reasoning itself. Knowing his injury history, Zimbabwe - a noticeably low key and non-accounted tour - is surely not worth risking his chances for the WC. And that may be further backed by his absence from domestic games since then, perhaps due to injury.
But the question is whether he has at least reserved the squad selection for upcoming England tests.
Here comes the need to regain form and the comment that he does not occupy the crease. His miraculous Durban test produced 51 and 153. But that is followed by 20, 1, 23, 0, 0 where the last double ducks have been in the test against NZL that SL badly wanted a middle-order batsman to save it. Looking into past before the Durban test you need to pass 10 innings to see a half-century. Among them was a match-winning 23 unbeaten in WI, but all the other innings were very short, mostly out for rash shots.
Kusal was playing no 5 in SA as Chandimal was out dropped and Angelo was injured. Both these players have come back. Chandimal not only occupies Kusal's no 5 position but also fills the extra wicket-keeper role. You cannot say that he has done amazingly well, but it is safe to say that his half-century in Pakistan and match-saving stay in Harare should at least be enough to retain the position against England.
Adding to the complexity, Roshen Silva is back playing FC cricket. Although he has done nothing exceptional yet, his impressive batting average and match-saving skills will be at high demand against England in home tests, where Roshen shows more skill to play.
If anyone else is needed to replace Lahiru Thirimanna, the little kid who hasn't stopped performing - Pathum Nissanka - has scored another century to his long list of impressive knocks that decorate his ultra-impressive FC average of 65. He is a wicket-keeper too and should have been selected ahead of Oshadha, if not for some error in De Mel maths.
Where is Kusal Perera gonna fit? And why should he play tests? Because Harsha Bhogle laughed at SL, or because Kusal really won the ESPNcricinfo award?
Only he can fix this. He has to be better than someone in the test team. At the age of 29, he will have to show it pretty quickly.
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