Sri Lanka vs South Africa Tests 2019: Sri Lanka Historic 2-0 Win — Kusal Perera's 153* at Durban, First Asian Team to Win Test Series in South Africa

Sri Lanka won the South Africa Test series February 2019 by 2-0 across 2 Tests — becoming the first Asian team in history to win a Test series in South Africa, and only the third visiting side ever to win a Test series in South Africa (after England and Australia). Kusal Perera scored 153* in the Durban 1st Test chasing 304 — Sri Lanka winning by 1 wicket, the last-wicket partnership between Perera and Vishwa Fernando being unbroken at 78 runs. Kusal Perera won Player of the Series. Dimuth Karunaratne captained Sri Lanka; Faf du Plessis captained South Africa. Tests at Kingsmead, Durban (1st) and St George's Park, Gqeberha/Port Elizabeth (2nd).

Kusal Perera's 153*: One of the Greatest Chasing Innings in Test History

Kusal Perera's 153* at Kingsmead Durban — Sri Lanka chasing 304 in the 4th innings, Perera arriving when Sri Lanka were struggling and batting with the tail, eventually carrying his team to a 1-wicket win through an unbroken 78-run 10th-wicket partnership with Vishwa Fernando — was ranked by Wisden among the greatest Test innings of the decade and is widely considered one of the most extraordinary 4th-innings chasing performances in Test history. Perera, the left-handed Sri Lanka wicketkeeper-batter whose aggressive strokeplay was his defining characteristic, scoring 153* against South Africa's full pace attack (Vernon Philander, Kagiso Rabada, Dale Steyn, Duanne Olivier) in a Durban chase of 304 — a target that Sri Lanka should not, statistically, have been able to achieve given that South Africa had won 15 of their previous 17 home Tests entering the series — gave the Durban 1st Test one of its most celebrated individual match-winning performances. Sri Lanka, who had been bowled out for 191 in their 1st innings and were facing a 304 chase with their best batters having already been dismissed before Perera took the innings into what became an unbeaten 153, produced a result that inverted every pre-match probability: the team that had lost by larger margins in previous South Africa Tests finding their most significant overseas Test win through one batter's determination and strokeplay ability.

First Asian Team to Win a Test Series in South Africa

Sri Lanka's 2-0 series win in South Africa — completing the sweep with an 8-wicket 2nd Test win at St George's Park Gqeberha — giving Karunaratne's team the distinction of being the first Asian cricket team (India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan have all toured South Africa) to win a bilateral Test series in South Africa. South Africa's home Test record heading into the 2019 Sri Lanka series — having won 15 of their previous 17 home Tests — gave the context: a touring Asian team winning 2-0 against the same South Africa side that had produced that dominant home record was not a realistic bilateral outcome predicted by any pre-series analysis. Sri Lanka being the team to achieve it — despite being ranked below India, Australia, England, and Pakistan in the bilateral Test hierarchy at the time — gave the 2019 SA series the upset character: not the most-fancied Asian touring side producing the historic result but the team that had experienced significant internal turmoil (Mathews-Karunaratne captaincy transition, PCB controversies) arriving in South Africa and producing their most celebrated away-series result in Test history. South Africa had previously lost Test series in South Africa only to England (multiple) and Australia — the 2019 Sri Lanka 2-0 addition to that list being only the third instance.

Sri Lanka vs South Africa Tests 2019 in Context

The Sri Lanka tour of South Africa Tests February 2019 — Kingsmead Durban and St George's Park Gqeberha — produced Sri Lanka winning 2-0 (first Asian team to win a Test series in South Africa), Kusal Perera's 153* Durban chase being one of Test cricket's most celebrated 4th-innings match-winning performances, and Sri Lanka completing a sweep despite South Africa's strong pre-series home record. Karunaratne's leadership across both Tests — tactical decisions on when to declare and how to use Sri Lanka's pace (Suranga Lakmal and Vishwa Fernando) on South African surfaces — gave the 2-0 result its quality-of-captaincy dimension beyond the Perera individual performance. The 2019 South Africa series remains Sri Lanka's most celebrated away Test series win of the 21st century.