Primarily a bowling all-rounder, he is an aggressive left-handed batsman who can hit big sixes in death overs and is a useful right-arm medium-fast bowler.

Perera was a part of the Sri Lankan team that won the 2014 ICC World Twenty20, and scored the winning boundary in the final.

[3] In Australia he is known by his nickname "panda", which was bestowed upon him by George Bailey during his stint in the BBL with the Brisbane Heat, although he prefers "TP".

[8] He later attended the prestigious St. Joseph's College, Colombo, which has produced Sri Lankan cricketers such as Chaminda Vaas, Angelo Mathews and Dimuth Karunaratne.

[9] Perera made his international debut for Sri Lanka in December 2009, in a late call-up to play in an ODI against India in Kolkata.

[2] He took his first five-wicket haul in international cricket in August 2010, earning him the player of the match award in an ODI victory over India.

He was part of the team defeated in the final of the tournament by India, scoring 22 not out off ten deliveries and taking the wicket of Gautam Gambhir.

[12] He was not selected for the Test series against Pakistan later in the year, being retained only for the ODI and Twenty20 sides, but was recalled to the Test team for the end-of-year tour of South Africa[13] He played two ODIs on the tour and scored his first half-century in the format—69 not out off 44 balls—to help Sri Lanka to victory in the fourth of the five-match series in Kimberley.

In that innings against India in the final, Perera had an unbeaten partnership with Kumar Sangakkara and hit the winning boundary.

[24] He too has the record for the highest individual score for Sri Lanka when batting at number 7 position or lower in Twenty20 International (49) and also jointly holds the record for Sri Lanka for the highest score batting at number 8 position in T20I along with Angelo Mathews(35*)[25] In August 2017, he was named in a World XI side to play three Twenty20 International matches against Pakistan in the 2017 Independence Cup in Lahore.

[27] In April 2018, he was named in the Rest of the World XI squad for the one-off T20I against the West Indies, to be played at Lord's on 31 May 2018.

[29] This announcement came after Sri Lanka Cricket confirmed that the fixture in Lahore would go ahead as planned and their limited-overs captain, Upul Tharanga, had pulled out of the match due to security reasons.

[30] Ahead of the T20I in Lahore, Cricket Sri Lanka's president Thilanga Sumathipala said that the team was privileged to be in Pakistan and that he would help support the country in hosting more tours.

[33] On 29 November 2017, Perera was named as Sri Lanka's captain for the ODI and T20I matches against India, replacing Upul Tharanga.

The result gave full sorts of validity, where the Sri Lankan pacers led by Suranga Lakmal devastated the Indian batting line up.

Perera thrashed 13 sixes and eight fours on his way to 140 off 74 balls, which is recorded as the joint highest individual score by a Sri Lankan against New Zealand (along with Jayasuriya's 140 in 1994).

[44][45] The International Cricket Council (ICC) named Perera as the key player of Sri Lanka's squad for the tournament.

It was reported that he retired from international cricket following pay dispute with the Sri Lanka Cricket Board and also reports emerged regarding the intentions of SLC to axe several senior players from the national team in the limited overs matches to nurture and give opportunities to the youngsters.

[63] During the 2016 Indian Premier League auction he was sold to new franchise Rising Pune Supergiants for INR 1 crore in the second round.

[64] On 3 June 2018, he was selected to play for the Montreal Tigers in the players' draft for the inaugural edition of the Global T20 Canada tournament.

[76][77] In October 2020, he was commissioned as a Major in the Sri Lanka Army Volunteer Force attached the Gajaba Regiment.