Sri Lanka spin legend Muttiah Muralitharan has said that the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises should have a look at Wanindu Hasaranga, who has been impressive with the ball and the bat as well in the ongoing limited-overs series against India.
Despite Sri Lanka’s series losses to West Indies, Bangladesh, England, and then India, the spin-bowling all-rounder has shone brightly with both bat and ball and kept his side in the contest. Hasaranga has played 26 ODIs and 21 T20Is for Sri Lanka thus far and has 25 and 29 wickets respectively.
He has also made 534 and 178 runs with a cumulative 3 fifties in the limited-overs format. He has also played 4 Tests making 196 runs and taking 4 wickets.
With the IPL 2022 auction happening soon, Muttiah Muralitharan feels that IPL franchises should show interest in Wanindu Hasaranga and called him an excellent T20 bowler.
But, the legendary spinner also pointed out that IPL teams don’t go after overseas spinner and prefer a local spinner instead. Nonetheless, with two new IPL teams to be added next season, there is a good chance that the all-rounder would be picked in the auction.
“IPL franchise should look at him. But the problem is if it’s a local player, he walks into the side. But if it’s a foreign player, you have to see which franchise wants a foreign spinner. It’s a tricky thing. They will buy him but playing him is something that will not be easy for a franchise. Because some franchises look mostly at Indian spinners rather than foreign spinners. He will get a launch and if he gets a game or two and performs, then he will be a regular player,” Muttiah Muralitharan told ESPNCricinfo.
Muralitharan was impressed by the way Wanindu bowled in the 1st T20I and got the wicket of Suryakumar Yadav.
“He bowls well in T20s most of the time. In shorter games, he is a very good bowler. He took the wicket of Suryakumar Yadav which was important otherwise, Suryakumar would have gone on to score an even bigger score. The total would have been very different,” the legendary spinner stated.
The third and deciding T20I will be played on July 29, 2021, in Colombo with the three-match series tied 1-1.
