Sri Lankan batting legend Mahela Jayawardene is hugely impressed by the emergence of Wanindu Hasaranga as he sees the hallmarks of Lasith Malinga’s fast bowling in the 25-year-old spin all-rounder. Hasaranga, who plays for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League, took the spotlight in the 2021 T20 World Cup in the UAE when he topped the charts with 16 wickets – the most in a tournament. He then played a key role with both the bat and the ball in their Asia Cup triumph to climb to the world No. 4 in the all-rounder rankings.
“The way he’s blossomed… he’s also from the south, pretty close to where Lasith was (Galle) and they have similar mannerisms,” Jayawardena said in the ICC Review.
“The way they both came out, they started their careers quietly – you know, sitting in the corner of the locker room – and little by little they grew. The haircuts changed, the tattoos came out and the whole thing.
“It (the development of Hasaranga) is a lot like how Lasith became who Lasith was, and that’s how I see the way Wanindu has blossomed as a player.”
The biggest similarity between the two is their fierce competitiveness, said Jayawardene, who now works as a Sri Lankan adviser-coach. “The important thing is that once they’re across the field like Lasith, he’s a competitor – that’s what I love about him,” he said.
At the Asian Cup, Hasaranga was the second highest wicket taker — nine scalps — and he also broke by 66 runs to be named Player of the Tournament.
He also played a key role — 36 and 3/27 — in their latest win over Pakistan.
“Over the past 12 months he has shown how mature he is – not only as a bowler but also with the bat. In difficult situations he has really come and delivered,” said Jayawardena.
“But as a leader in that group, even if he doesn’t have the title of vice-captain or captain or anything like that, under all that he has become a leader that all the young boys look up to.” Jayawardena has known Hasaranga since he was 19, thanks to former teammate Chaturanga de Silva, Hasaranga’s brother.
“To be fair, his brother was actually playing cricket while we were playing cricket too,” Jayawardena said.
“So Wanindu was much younger, playing under-19 cricket when we finished and then he started playing first-class cricket.
“We’ve always known this guy can bowl and bat, but we never knew what quality bowler he could be. I mean, initially he didn’t have the accuracy, but he always had an X factor about him, how he went about stuff.
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“Sri Lanka invested in him there when he was quite young, especially in white ball cricket.” Sri Lanka won their first warm-up match against Zimbabwe on Tuesday by 33 runs.
They then face Ireland in their final warm-up match on Thursday before meeting Namibia in their T20 World Cup opener in a Group A match.
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