Dilruwan Perera has made rapid progress since starting his career at Sri Sumangala College, Panadura. He toured Australia with the Sri Lanka Under-19 team and, after he made his first-class debut for Panadura SC, was drafted into the A side in 2001. He played one season for Chilaw Marians Cricket Club and holds the bowling record for the Under-23s with 55 wickets from seven matches in 2004.

Perera's offbreaks and the arm-ball, which he uses to good effect, brought him his best bowling figures - seven wickets in an innings for Panadura SC v Galle CC in 2005 and was selected for Sri Lanka A's tour of England in 2007, where he had a reasonably successful tour scoring over 200 runs batting indifferent batting positions from opener to lower order and capturing five wickets with his tidy off-breaks. Another similar tour followed with the Sri Lanka A team to Zimbabwe where he once again displayed his prowess as a competitive allrounder scoring 181 runs and capturing eight wickets. On the advice of Muttiah Muralitharan - who he counts among his idols alongside Saqlain Mushtaq - he does "spot bowling" for at least an hour every day to perfect his skills. He has benefited immensely from being a member of the Sri Lanka Spin Academy where he came under the coaching of two former offspinners, Ashley Mallett of Australia and Ruwan Kalpage, the Sri Lankan.

Perera earned a call-up to Sri Lanka's squad for the ICC World Twenty20 in South Africa after Muralitharan was ruled out due to injury. He made his ODI debut in the CB Series in Australia and was named in the 30-member probables for the Champions Trophy. Nearly ten seasons in first-class cricket, he forms an integral part of the Colombo Colts team in the Premier domestic tournaments.