In 2004 he represented Sri Lanka at the Hong Kong Sixes competition.

In March 2018, he was named in Colombo's squad for the 2017–18 Super Four Provincial Tournament. In August 2018, he was named as the vice-captain of Dambulla's sqaud the 2018 SLC T20 League.

On 13 October 2007 Perera made his ODI debut against England in Colombo. Opening the batting, he scored 30.

On 16 January 2014 he made his test debut against Pakistan at Sharjah. Coming in to bat at number 8, he was the top scorer in Sri Lanka's 1st innings with 95.

After a series of good bowling and five-wicket hauls, Perera was dropped from the Test squad due to many upcoming new talents. However, he had late response to international cricket at the age of 30, Perera showcased him sheer talents when he get the chance to play. Perera was included to the Test series against West Indies in October 2015, and played in the second Test at P Sara Oval. He could not show talents with the bat, but he took 4 wickets in crucial intervals of the match. Sri Lanka finally won the match by 72 runs and won the series 2-0.

Perera was included to the Warne-Muralitharan Trophy in 2016, as a frontline spinner with Rangana Herath. In the second test at Galle, he took ten wickets for 99 runs in the match with his best bowling figures of 6/70 in the second innings. He also scored his highest Test score of 64 in the second innings, becoming the first Sri Lankan to score a fifty and to take a ten-wicket haul in the same Test. Sri Lanka won the match by 229 runs and won the Warne-Murali Trophy as well.

With bowling maestro Herath, Perera devastated Australian batting line up in all three matches. In the whole series, Perera took 15 wickets and Herath took 28 wickets. The spin duo provided the series win and whitewash of Australia for the first time.

During the first test against India, Perera scored unbeaten 92 runs, which was praised by commentators as a fighting inning. However, with falling wickets at the other end, he was stranded eight short of a maiden Test century. In the second innings, Perera also scored brisk unbeaten 21 runs as well. However, Sri Lanka lost the match by 304 runs.

Perera took his fifth five-wicket haul on 10 October 2017 against Pakistan at Dubai. His bowling figures of 5 for 98 in the second innings provided Sri Lanka to win the match by 68 runs and Sri Lanka sweep the series 2-0. With 5/98, Perera became the first Sri Lankan to take a five-wicket haul in day-night Tests.^[12]

During the third test against India, he took his 100th test wicket by dismissing Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan. With 25 matches to reach the milestone, Perera became the fastest bowler for Sri Lanka, in terms of matches played, to take 100 wickets in Tests.^[13]

In May 2018, he was one of 33 cricketers to be awarded a national contract by Sri Lanka Cricket ahead of the 2018–19 season.^[14][15]

In the first test match against South Africa, he took match winning ten-wicket haul of 10 for 78 at Galle International Stadium. This was his second tenfer and sixth fifer as well. South Africa were all out for just 73 runs, which is their lowest total after readmission. Sri Lanka finally won the match by 278 runs.^[16][17]<