The success behind Wanidu Hasaranga de Silva is that he used to bowl very tidy spells of leg spin consistently that earned him wickets in almost every match he played and was a big success in local tournaments taking wickets regularly.
But because of the senior players in the national team his selection was often delayed and now it seems that he has come to stay and all cricket fans will agree to this and wish him well in the future too.
The 22-year-old Hasaranga played so well in all three T/20 matches against Pakistan that he deservedly won the man of the match as well as the man of the series awards after the third match in Lahore. His leg spin and googly deliveries had the Pakistani batsmen in all sorts of trouble.
“My wrong one is what I use to get wickets with and try to instill pressure by bowling as many dot balls as possible. I always believe I have got enough variations to pick up wickets,” said Hasaranga the find of the Pakistan tour. He took eight wickets in the three T-20 match series with best figures 3 for 21 in the last game.
Hasaranga is a product of Richmond College who entered the international arena in 2017 at a one day game against Zimbabwe at the Galle international stadium where he had a memorable debut by taking a hat-trick making him the third debutant to take a hat-trick in ODI history.
He started his club cricket career at Ports Authority and then moved to CCC that won the Premier league championships last season.
He displayed his all round abilities at the National under-19 side before qualifying to the Sri Lanka ‘A’ side. However, he was most disappointed when he was named stand-bye player for the last World Cup as most of the cricket experts said he deserved to be in that squad ahead of Jeewan Mendis and Jeffry Vandersay.
“I worked hard on my game with an idea to enter the national team again. I not only dedicated my work at domestic level but also with the emerging team and the Sri Lanka ‘A’ team as an all rounder.
This helped my way to the national side again,” said Hasaranga.
“Sometimes when I get the chance to bowl during the power play, I always plan to bowl dot balls to put the pressure on the batsmen. I always varied my bowling and this is the success of my bowling.”
“During practices I always concentrated a lot on my fielding too. I always enjoyed my fielding and expect the ball to come in my direction at any time. I also keep my fitness level very high and be prepared for a game at any time. I obtained a lot of opportunities and exposure during the local tournaments,” noted Hasaranga.
Dhammika Sudharshana the Richmond College coach and present CCC coach Tharanga Dhammika said that Hasaranga has a good future with his all round skills.