The 27-year-old, Kusal Perera wants to play in Sri Lanka's domestic first-class tournament to regain his Test spot. Reports emerged yesterday that the Hyderabad-based franchise was interested in getting the left-handed wicket keeper-batsman on board for the 2018 IPL after skipper Warner was handed a ban of a year by Cricket Australia. Sri Lanka's aggressive batsman Kusal Perera has supposedly decided against joining Sunrisers Hyderabad as David Warner's replacement.
"Yes, we have approached Kusal Perera as a replacement for Warner. Like Warner, he is also a devastating batsman and our analyst informed us that he has been in tremendous form in last few months. Though nothing has finalized as yet, we are hopeful Perera will join our squad," a Sunrisers Hyderabad official had told Cricket Age.
Kusal Perera, who last played in a Test match for his home side back in 2016, has been vying for a comeback ever since. Though this was a golden opportunity for the opener to make a mark in the lucrative T20 league, his decision to stay back seems sensible.
If SRH fail to sign a worthy replacement for Warner, then they might go ahead with Shikhar Dhawan-Kane Williamson(the newly-appointed skipper) pair as an opener and strengthen the middle order instead. Joe Root, Hashim Amla and Martin Guptill are still available and it remains to be seen whether the Hyderabad-based franchise gets one of them on board.