Members of the Sri Lankan team congratulated their wicket-keeper batsman Kusal Perera, who married to his childhood girl-friend Kalani De Silva in Colombo on Wednesday, a day before the first T-20I against West Indies.
"He was given a special permission to leave the squad to get married and when he joined the team hotel in the afternoon he was congratulated", a member of the support staff, said. "All team members had also congratulated him on the WhatsApp group".
The WhatsApp group is being administered by the fielding coach Shane McDermott, it is learnt here. "The WhatsApp group administrator updates the group activities and adds and deletes players name as and when they are in the team or dropped from the squad", the source added.
"A very happy wedded life to kjp And his beautiful wife. All the best stay blessed", all rounder Angelo Mathews congratulated the couple on social media and also posted the photo.
Honeymoon on hold
Kusal Perera joined the team hotel with his wife, putting the honeymoon on hold. Interestingly, Kusal Perara is not the first Sri Lankan cricketer who joined the team immediately after his marriage. Marriage on a day and a six-wicket haul the very next day; this incident was not heard before Akila Dananjaya did so against India at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium in Pallekele in 2017.
In 2004, South Africa's Andre Nel arranged for a helicopter to take him from the ground to the church at Benoni. The fact that stumps were taken early helped him to reach early and managed to get married an hour after the scheduled close of play. The next day, he dismissed Brian Lara twice (after the team was followed on). Nel did not enjoy the marriage lifelong is a different story.