Thisara Perera on secret of Jaffna Kings success

• Being together in victory and in defeat

Jaffna Kings skipper Thisara Perera during a virtual media conference yesterday

For the past two years of the Lanka Premier League (LPL), Jaffna Kings have been the team to beat and it turned out to be so in this year’s competition too, the way they have been performing.

Thisara Perera, their successful captain talking to the media yesterday said: “We can’t guarantee that we can do it for a third time but we will try to win it. That has been our goal in the first two years and it is also for this year as well. 

“As professional cricketers we do everything that is expected of us in the 90 minutes we are on the field. We try and give our best, that is we are the champions. In the past two years we didn’t point a finger at anyone but we were together in victory and in defeat. That has been our biggest secret.”

“As a team we help each other. Our success has been that we are one family. We have been doing that since the first LPL. We don’t have to improve on anything we have improved in all areas. What is required is for us to learn day by day. I have played for the national team for 13 years but I am still learning. The learning process will not stop until you retire from the game.”

Perera said the LPL was helping to unearth new players for the Sri Lanka team. 

“We are getting new faces from this tournament. In the first edition we produced Maheesh Theekshana. That is our goal as a franchise and as a captain we need to produce new faces to the national team. I feel that Vijayakanth Vijaskanth is a really talented player. I am looking forward to seeing him play in the national team in the next few years.”

“Having players in the calibre and experience of Shoaib Malik has had an impact on the team. Malik is a legend all over the world. He passed 12,000 runs only in T20 cricket yesterday (Monday). You’ll need to have five to six players to score that number of runs. He is sharing his experience and always talking with the batsmen. He has been our icon player for all three editions and is like a Sri Lankan now.”

Speaking of Jaffna’s successful coach Thilina Kandamby, Perera said: “One good thing about him is that having been a player himself he thinks like one. He has a good cricketing sense and he understands the players well.”

The Jaffna skipper said that they would take a call on Tom Kohler-Cadmore’s fitness in consultation with his doctors. 

“We took him despite an injury. In a previous tournament he was under concussion rules and received treatment for six months. In the first match he dived to hold onto a catch and hit his head on the ground and we have not played him since.”  

– (ST)