Kusal Perera might return for the tour of England

In a media briefing held yesterday, Sri Lanka Cricket’s CEO Ashley de Silva stated that the provisionally banned wicketkeeper-batsman Kusal Janith Perera might come back for the tour of England.

However, he allayed any chances of the southpaw getting his way cleared ahead of the WorldT20, which is to be held beginning from March.

The CEO further stated that Kusal Perera will be meeting members of the ICC in another two-three weeks and there are chances he might be back with the team for the critical tour of England, which will succeed the flagship T20 tournament in India.

Kusal Perera was handed over a provisional ban after he failed a drug test during the home series against West Indies. It is not yet clear as to what substance he consumed and the Minister of Sports of Sri Lanka adduced a theory that he might have been maliciously entrapped after refusing an offer to fix a test match against the visiting West Indies side.

The young Sri Lankan side has been bereft of fluent top order batsmen ever since Kusal’s ban and his return might inject a lot of confidence into the team. It should be noted that Pakistan’s Yasir Shah also failed a drug test, but he was only given a three-month ban since the ICC was convinced about his unintentional usage of the banned substance.