Five innings in 2019 that reaffirmed the quality of Test cricket

#2 Kusal Perera - 153* vs South Africa at Durban

Kusal Perera

Going into the match, Sri Lanka had serious issues as they had dropped their Test captain Dinesh Chandimal and appointed Dimuth Karunaratne as the new captain. Sri Lanka won the toss and asked South Africa to bat first.

The pitch had enough assistance for both spinners and pacers. The home team scored 235 while the visitors scored 191 in the first innings. Sensible innings from Faf du Plessis and Quinton de Kock helped South Africa set a target of 304 in the final innings. Sri Lanka was struggling at 52-3 when Kusal Perera walked into bat.

He enjoyed the bounce on the wicket as he played the cut and the pull shots with ease. The southpaw, who had top-scored in the first innings with 51, was batting with ease at one end while wickets kept falling at the other.

Sri Lanka needed 78 to win when they lost the ninth wicket. With Vishwa Fernando barely managing to survive, the left-hander started scoring runs quickly. He attacked the likes of Dale Steyn and Kagiso Rabada as he stroked every ball with absolute authority.

He went to win the game for Sri Lanka and they later became the first Asian team to win a Test series in South Africa. Perera's 153 was given the top-spot in Wisden 100's Golden Willow 25 rankings.