When Chaturanga de Silva was playing for Sri Lanka, his younger brother Wanindu Hasaranga de Silva was already taking strides in Under-19 cricket. Hasaranga made his ODI debut in 2017, but it was really Twenty20 cricket that marked him out among his peers.
Hasaranga probably made it to the 2019/20 tour of Pakistan only after several frontline Sri Lankans opted out. Despite fielding a second-string side, Sri Lanka swept the series 3-0 under Dasun Shanaka, who was leading Sri Lanka for the first time. With figures of 12-0-79-8, Hasaranga was named Player of the Series. It was only his second T20I series.
Wanindu Hasaranga took a five-wicket haul in RCB vs SRH match. Sportzpics
A year and a half later, Hasaranga had 12-0-42-8 in the series in West Indies. He also had a decent tour of England, but that one major break that would catapult him to superstardom was yet to arrive. That happened when India sent a second-string side to Sri Lanka in July 2021.
He struck with his first ball of the T20I series, trapping Sanju Samson leg before, got Suryakumar Yadav as well, and finished with 4-0-28-2 in the first T20I. Sri Lanka went down by 36 runs, but Hasaranga was noticed. Then COVID-19 hit the Indian camp, forcing them to field a lopsided, bowler-heavy XI.
Read: Hasaranga help RCB maintain charge towards playoffs with 67-run thrashing of SRH
Hasaranga had 4-0-30-1 in the second match. He also chipped in with bat, and Sri Lanka levelled the series. Then came the decider. India, already a batter short (Bhuvneshwar Kumar batted at six), were 23/2 when Hasaranga came on to bowl after four overs.
The second ball whizzed past Samson’s bat. The fourth, bowled quicker than usual, trapped him leg-before. The sixth evaded Ruturaj Gaikwad’s forward defence to claim him too. Hasaranga was on 1-0-2-2, India were four down, and Bhuvneshwar had to walk out after five overs.
There was no respite for Hasaranga, who finished with 4-0-9-4 that night. His series figures, 12-0-67-7, were enough to earn him an IPL contract for the Royal Challengers Bangalore. He got only two matches that season (and went for 10 an over), but there was a T20 World Cup to look forward to.
Hasaranga finished the T20 World Cup with 16 wickets – the most by anyone in any edition of the tournament. With a 10-wicket cut-off, he also had the second-best average (9.75) and best economy rate (5.20) by anyone in a single edition. His batting strike rate (149, for 119 runs), was the highest for Sri Lanka.
Had the adjudicators not been keen on finding someone from a team that had qualified for the knockouts, Hasaranga would probably have been Player of the Tournament. It was the highest point in what has been a glittering T20I career.
Read: RCB succeeded in putting pressure on pacer Umran Malik, says Hasaranga
Ahead of IPL 2022, Hasaranga’s T20I career numbers stood at 57 wickets (joint-most in the world since his debut) at 13.75, at a strike rate of 12.9 and has gone for 6.39 an over. With a 40-wicket cut-off, he has the third-best average and second-best strike rate, while his economy is the fourth-best among those who have bowled 100 overs.
However, he was yet to leave a mark in the IPL. At Bangalore, despite his batting abilities, he would always be the second wrist-spinner, after Yuzvendra Chahal. But Bangalore released Chahal, and fought a pitched battle for Hasaranga at the mega-auctions, buying him for INR 10.75 crore, substantially more than his base price of INR 1 crore.
The decision to release Chahal and back Hasaranga as the lead spinner drew criticism from many corners, particularly after Chahal’s outstanding run for the Rajasthan Royals. But all criticism faded out over time.
Bangalore lost their opening match, against Punjab Kings, despite putting up 205/2. Hasaranga had an ordinary day, but he bounced back to demolish the Kolkata Knight Riders middle order with 4-20 and win the Player of the Match award.
Bangalore then went on to beat Rajasthan and Mumbai Indians. In the latter, Hasaranga bowled two beautiful balls – one that hurried on to get Dewald Brevis, the other a googly that got Kieron Pollard, both leg-before. He was carted around by Robin Uthappa and Shivam Dube against Chennai Super Kings, but did well to strike with consecutive balls in the 19th over.
Wins against Delhi Capitals and Lucknow Super Giants were followed by the humiliation of being bowled out for 68 by Sunrisers Hyderabad. With Josh Hazlewood and Harshal Patel bowling brilliantly at the death, a temporary dip in Hasaranga’s form went unnoticed.
He bounced back in the return match against Rajasthan. Samson hit a four and a six in his first three balls, but Hasaranga had his revenge, knocking out Samson’s off stump. That done, he cast a spell on the Rajasthan batters, taking out Shimron Hetmyer, and conceding a mere 13 off his last 21 balls.
He got two wickets when Gujarat Titans, fuelled by David Miller and Rahul Tewatia, chased 171 against Bangalore. And he took out Devon Conway to turn the Chennai match on its head. However, despite being consistent enough to feature in the list of top five wicket-takers, he was yet to get wickets in a bunch since the Kolkata match.
Chasing 193, Hyderabad lost two wickets in the first over before Rahul Tripathi and Aiden Markram took them to 50/2 after eight overs. Bangalore were still favourites, but with Nicholas Pooran to follow, a successful onslaught was not improbable.
It took Hasaranga two balls to strike. There was enough cushion to flight the ball, so Hasaranga did. Markram’s slog sweep did not clear Virat Kohli at deep mid wicket. The job done, Faf du Plessis saved him for later, only to recall him when Tripathi and Pooran took the score to 89/3 after 12 overs.
This time it took Hasaranga one ball. Once again, he flighted the ball. Once again, the batter – Pooran, this time – went for a slog towards leg. Unfortunately, he had not picked the googly, and the ball took the edge and ballooned towards short third.
Hyderabad promoted J. Suchith ahead of Shashank Singh, probably to deploy a left-hander against Hasaranga. Suchith struggled until he was stumped in Hasaranga’s next over. Shashank Singh hit him straight for six, but Hasaranga got one back when Shashank attempted a similar shot and was caught at long on.
He got Umran Malik next ball to finish with a maiden – in the 16th over of a match while defending 193. His figures – 4-1-18-5 – are the best of the season, while his 21 wickets are now one behind Chahal, who has been holding the Purple Cap for some time now.
Placed at third and fourth, Rajasthan and Bangalore are likely to qualify for the Playoffs. The duel between Chahal and Hasaranga – the wrist spinner Bangalore released and the one they bought back – is likely to go till the end.
Abhishek Mukherjee is the Chief Editor at CricketNews and co-author of Sachin and Azhar at Cape Town.
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