Indian Premier League 2022 mega auction ended last February 13 in Bangalore. It was a historic one for Sri Lankan players, because leg-spinning all-rounder Wanindu Hasaranga was sold for a whopping 10.75 crore Indian rupees (287 million Sri Lankan rupees), the highest amount of money a Sri Lankan player has ever sold in IPL history. Hasaranga has left behind Lasith Malinga, Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara and Muttiah Muralidhar. There, he was bought by the Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Four other Sri Lankan players
Meanwhile, four other Sri Lankan players were also sold at the auction. They are Dushmantha Chameera bought by Lucknow Super Giants for 2 crore (54 million Sri Lankan rupees), Maheesh Theekshana bought by Chennai Super Kings for 70 lakhs (19 million Sri Lankan rupees), Chamika Karunaratne taken by Kolkatta Knight Riders for 50 lakhs (13 million Sri Lankan rupees) and Bhanuka Rajapaksa picked up by Punjab Kings for 50 lakhs (13 million Sri Lankan rupees). In addition to the above players three coaching staff members will also represent Sri Lanka for three teams in the season. They are Mahela Jayawardena as head coach for Mumbai Indians, Kumar Sangakkara as director of cricket for Rajasthan Royals and Muttiah Muralidaran as bowling coach for Sunrise Hyderabad.
Five most expensive players
The mega auction was held over the weekend on February 12 and 13 in Bangalore, and 600 players were auctioned altogether. Apart from being the most expensive Sri Lankan in IPL history, Wanindu Hasaranga also became the second highest expensive foreign player after Liam Livingstone from England who was sold for 11.50 crore Indian rupees. The most expensive Indian player is Ishan Kishan (for Mumbai Indians) whose price is 15.25 crore Indian rupees. The second in the list is Deepak Chahar (for Chennai Super Kings) who was sold for 14 crore Indian rupees, and the third place belongs to Shreyas Iyer (for Kolkata Knight Riders) whose price is 12.25 crore Indian rupees. Liam Livingstone is fourth place, and was sold for Punjab Kings. Wanindu Hasaranga is in the fifth place of the whole list.
Attention towards Hasaranga
The places Sri Lankan players earned in the auction are remarkable because this is the first time such a large number of Sri Lankan players were included in the IPL after 10 years or so. It’s a fact that Sri Lankan players demonstrate high level performances in international cricket. According to Indian media, Indian cricket officials’ attention first directed on Hasaranga, 24, when the Indian cricket team participated in three ODI and three T20 series in 2021. At the second ODI in that series, he took three wickets, and broke 7 wickets including a 4 for 9 to top the bowling charts in the three T20Is.
At the end of the series, Hasaranga was placed second among T20I bowlers in the ICC rankings. And also, he took a hat-trick at last year’s T20 World Cup. He was also the highest wicket-taker with 16 victims in eight matches at 5.20 in it. So, all these records by Hasaranga made it possible for him to earn this place in the IPL auction.
In fact, he participated in the last IPL season, its second part, as well. During this year’s auction, many franchises tried to buy him. His bidding started from a rather ‘modest’ base price of 1 crore (INR), and then Royal Challengers Bangalore and Sunrisers Hyderabad were bidding aggressively for the all-rounder. Within moments, the bids crossed the 10 crore mark, and finally Royal Challengers Bangalore bought him for 10.75 crore.
History
Hasaranga’s full name is Pinnaduwage Wanindu Hasaranga de Silva. He was born on July 29, 1997, in Galle, and studied at Richmond College, Galle. Chathuranga De Silva, another all rounder who represented Sri Lanka in a few ODI and T20s, is his elder brother. Hasaranga is a right hand batsman and right-arm leg spin bowler. During the 2020 and 2021 LPL seasons he represented the Jaffna Kings team.
He had a fine run in Sri Lanka’s 2015 and 2016 Under-19 teams as well - he claimed a particularly impactful 3 for 34 in the 2016 Youth World Cup quarter-final against England. He made a rapid 87 on first-class debut with Ports Authority Cricket Club, and, having switched to Colombo Cricket Club, hit 586 runs at an average of 39.06 and a strike rate of 93 in the 2017 Premier League Tournament.
International figures
His Test debut was against South Africa at Centurion in December, 2020. So far, he has played four Test matches and recorded 196 runs with 59 his highest score as a batsman. As a Test bowler he has taken four wickets.
His debut ODI match was against Zimbabwe at Galle on July 02, 2017. There he became the third debutant in ODI history to claim a hat-trick when he wiped out Zimbabwe’s tail with the 14th, 15th and 16th deliveries of his international career. The number of ODI matches that he played is 29 and has recorded 546 runs with 80 as his highest score. The strike rate is 100.18. In his ODI career, he has taken 29 wickets with 5.04 economical figure.
His debut T20 match was against New Zealand at Pallekele on September 01, 2019. He has played 34 T20 matches so far and recorded 345 runs with 71 highest score. And he has broken 57 wickets with 6.39 economical figures.
When seeing all these figures, it is not difficult to realise why he was placed at such a level in the IPL auction and ICC cricket rankings – he is currently at the number one ICC T20 bowling rankings, and at the 5th place in the ICC T20 all rounders’ rankings.
The Difference of 2022 IPL
There are a few differences in this season of IPL. This time two new franchises were part of it for the first time, they are Gujarat Titans and Lucknow Super Giants. So there are 10 teams in the IPL altogether. All the franchises spent INR 551,70,00,000 for buying players, and a total of 204 players were bought out of 600. Meanwhile, 108 players fetched over INR 1 crore.
The other difference is that there are a few big names who were not bought by any franchises. They are David Miller, Suresh Raina, Steven Smith, Mohammad Nabi, Mathew Wade, Wriddhiman Saha, Sam Billings, Umesh Yadav, Adil Rasheed, Imran Tahir, Adam Zampa, Amit Mishra, Shakib Al Hasan, Sandeep Lamichhane and Eion Morgan.
Positive sign for Sri Lanka cricket
It is also noteworthy to mention that only five out of 23 Sri Lankan players were sold at the auction. Among the unsold Sri Lankan players there were common names in IPL history such as Thisara Perera and Isuru Udana. And for the first time, a player from the under-19 squad was also presented at the auction. He is Dunith Wellalage, the captain of the Sri Lanka under-19 team in this year’s Youth Cricket World Cup.
However, the most positive sign of this IPL season is that all the Sri Lankan players who were bought by franchises are below 30. – In fact, Dushmantha Chameera reached 30 in January. It means they will be able to gather more experience from world class players, which is great for the future of Sri Lankan cricket.