He’s got Ronaldo fan Virat Kohli to break into Neymar-inspired celebrations. Everyone from Kohli to Faf du Plessis brought out the Hang Loose celebrations on Sunday as Wanindu Hasaranga, a Neymar fan, gave Royal Challengers Bangalore five reasons to celebrate against Sunrisers Hyderabad in Sunday’s IPL game.
Five-fors are rare in T20 cricket, but when a wrist-spinner like the Sri Lankan gets on a roll, it is possible. “I am very happy for him. He was looking for that one match where he just blows through the batting line-up. He’s been threatening to do that right through the campaign,” RCB skipper du Plessis said post-match. “He’s one of those special bowlers, if on the night you are not picking him, he can run through you very quickly.”
The Sri Lankan leggie’s figures of 4-1-18-5 confirm it was one of those nights. It also helped that SRH, chasing 193, had to deal with scoreboard pressure all along.
The RCB switch
When Hasaranga was picked by RCB for ₹10.75 crore at the auction, it wasn’t for his bowling skills alone. Still, picked over RCB’s highest wicket-taker Yuzvendra Chahal meant there would be pressure on him to deliver.
Statistically, there is little to choose between the leg-spinners so far. Hasaranga’s haul of 21 wickets this IPL leaves him one behind purple cap holder Chahal. Hasaranga’s strike rate is marginally better (11.71 to 12), but Chahal is less expensive (7.25 to 7.85). It has the makings of a rivalry building up.
But wrist-spinners bond together. Delhi Capitals’ Kuldeep Yadav had spoken of his heartfelt desire for Chahal to win the purple cap. On Sunday, Hasaranga spoke of Chahal ‘being a very good friend’ who helped him last year.
Both Hasaranga and Chahal adopt an attacking approach, first search for wickets and then look for dot balls. “Leg-spinners are wicket-takers. That’s what I try to do,” Hasaranga explains his craft in a simple manner.
Hasaranga though relies a lot more on the googly, bowled with different speeds. It makes him an equally potent against left-handed batters. That may have helped Hasaranga edge Chahal in the auction, particularly after his impressive showing in the 2021 T20 World Cup. Chahal was dropped by the Indian selectors.
Wrist-spin push
Chahal was at the forefront of the Indian team management push for wrist spin over finger spinners in T20 cricket following the 2017 Champions Trophy defeat. It was felt wrist spinners’ unpredictability made it difficult for batters to play premeditated shots. By the end of the decade though batters, with the aid of analysts, figured out wrist-spinners, and they could no longer afford to be slow in the air all the time. Kuldeep Yadav, for example, has made a strong return with DC after working on bowling quicker through the air.
So, what did Chahal do? He too went back to the drawing board and made the corrections in bowling speed without losing the effectiveness of his stock ball, the leg-break. Purely in terms of aesthetics, Chahal has stood out, using the googly only occasionally but constantly changing angles by using the crease and reading the batter’s mind like an expert chess player he was before taking up cricket seriously.
Some of Hasaranga’s key wickets in his five-for came the Chahal-way, by beating good players of spin in the air. Aiden Markram’s wicket came off a flighted leg-spinner which he holed out to deep mid-wicket. He beat Nicolas Pooran with a flighted googly, catching the edge playing an aggressive shot to be caught at short third-man. To a quicker version of the delivery, Jagadeesha Suchit was out stumped. Hasaranga’s task has been a touch tougher as he doesn’t have a quality spin-partner like Chahal has in Ravichandran Ashwin with Rajasthan Royals.
It would please both that wrist-spinners are back in contention for the high honours, calling the shots after two IPL seasons played mostly in the UAE where fast bowlers led the way.
