Sri Lankan cricketer & former CSK star Thisara Perera tweets in honour of joining the Army

Sri Lanka all-rounder Thisara Perera on Monday, December 30, in a major announcement on Twitter said he was joining his country's Army on invitation from Army Commander Lieutenant general Shavendra Silva. He went on to call it the biggest achievement of his life and will now play for the Army Cricket Club. Thisara Perera wrote:

“I accepted the invitation of Army Commander Lieutenant General Shavendra Silva in the first place & joined the Army. Getting an invitation from someone like him was one of the biggest achievements of my life. Thank you, Sir! I look forward to contributing my best to Army Cricket.”

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Thisara Perera's tweet

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This is not the first instance of a cricketer joining the Army while playing at the highest level. Former England spinner Hedley Verity, who grabbed 144 wickets in 40 Tests, sacrificed his life while fighting in the Second World War in Italy. Former India captains Kapil Dev and MS Dhoni also hold honorary military ranks, with the latter having served with the armed forces as well. Even Sir Don Bradman had joined the Australian Air Force in 1940.

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Thisara Perera has represented Sri Lanka in 161 ODIs, 79 T20Is and 6 Tests scoring 2210, 1169 and 203 runs respectively. He has also picked up 171, 51 and 11 wickets respectively in all the three formats as well. He is a T20 veteran, scoring 3328 runs and picking up 232 wickets in 269 T20 games all over the world. He has played in all the major T20 leagues like IPL, BBL, PSL, BPL and many more as well as appearances in the T10 league.

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