Wanindu Hasaranga

Pinnaduwage Wanindu Hasaranga de Silva is a Sri Lankan cricketer born on July 29, 1997. He plays as a right-handed batter and a right-arm leg-breaker to suit the all-rounder's role.

Hasaranga came into the limelight after he took a hat-trick with the ball on his ODI debut. The leg-spinner from Sri Lanka has performed consistently for his nation and is considered among the best spinners in T20 cricket at the moment.

Hasaranga’s all-round ability has earned him a reputation as Sri Lanka’s go-to cricketer in the white-ball formats and he has been appointed as the skipper of Sri Lanka at the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup 2024.

Wanindu Hasaranga: Along the Years

Wanindu Hasaranga Records

• Wanindu Hasaranga jointly holds the world record for the most T20I wickets in a year. He and Tabraiz Shamsi bagged 36 wickets each in T20I cricket in 2021.

• He was the first Sri Lankan player to take a hat-trick on ODI debut.

• Third player to take a hat-trick on ODI debut after Taijul Islam and Kagiso Rabada

• Wanindu Hasaranga's unbeaten 80 in the third ODI in March 2021 in Antigua is the highest score by a Sri Lanka No.8 in ODIs.

• Hasaranga had picked the most wickets in a single edition of the T20 World Cup. His 16 wicket-tally in the 2021 edition surpassed compatriot Ajantha Mendis' record of 15 wickets in the 2012 T20 World Cup held in Sri Lanka.

• Wanindu Hasaranga jointly holds the record for the most T20I wickets in a year by full members of the ICC. Hasaranga and Tabraiz Shamsi bagged 36 wickets each in T20I cricket in 2021.

• Hasaranga has picked 23 of his 75 wickets by the means of LBW in T20Is. He has inflicted the second most LBW by a bowler in T20 Internationals, behind Afghanistan's Rashid Khan (28).

• Hasaranga is the second player after Carlos Brathwaite to score thirty-plus runs and pick three wickets in a knockout game in T20Is.

• Second player to bag three consecutive five-wicket hauls in ODIs after Waqar Younis

• First player to bag three five-wicket hauls in the same ODI series

• Fifth-best bowling figures in ODIs (7/19) after Chaminda Vaas, Shahid Afridi, Glenn McGrath and Rashid Khan

• Second-best bowling figures in ODIs(7/19) for Sri Lanka after Chaminda Vaas

• Second-fastest to 100 wickets in T20Is after Rashid Khan

• Highest wicket-taker for Sri Lanka in T20Is, surpassing Lasith Malinga

Wanindu Hasaranga: Awards and Accolades

• Featured in ICC Men's ODI Team of the Year 2021.

• Featured in ICC Men's T20I Team of the Year 2021.

• Won Player of the Series in Asia Cup 2022.

Wanindu Hasaranga Career

Wanindu Hasaranga has been a wily leg-spinner and has the knack of picking wickets at regular intervals. His ability to score runs down the order makes him a good white-ball commodity, especially in the shortest format of the game.

Wanindu Hasaranga Domestic Career

Wanindu Hasaranga started his domestic career with List A cricket. He made his List A debut for Sri Lanka Ports Authority Cricket Club on November 30 in the AIA Premier Limited Overs Tournament.

The leg-spinner was named in Sri Lanka's 2016 U19 World Cup squad in Bangladesh. He picked seven wickets in the tournament at an average of 22.14, including the match-winning figures of 3/34 versus England in the quarter-final.

Hasaranga made his first-class debut for Sri Lanka Ports Authority Cricket Club in the 2015-16 season of the Premier League tournament.

Hasaranga was named the most promising player in domestic cricket for the 2016-17 season in Sri Lanka Cricket's annual awards. On the back of an excellent domestic run, scoring 586 runs at an average of 40 and claiming 15 wickets, including a five-wicket haul.

Hasaranga was included in Colombo's squad for the 2017-18 Super Four Provincial Tournament in March 2018. He was also roped in Colombo's squad for the 2018 Super Provincial One Day tournament. Hasaranga was named in Dambulla's squad for the 2018 SLC T20 league.

With 765 runs in nine games, Hasaranga was the leading run-scorer for Colombo Cricket Club in the 2018-19 Premier League Tournament. Hasaranga was picked by Galle for the 2019 Super Provincial One Day tournament.

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Hasaranga was drafted by the Jaffna Stallions for the inaugural edition of the Lanka Premier League in October 2020. Hasaranga was named ‘Player of the Tournament’ for picking 17 wickets at an economy rate of 5.18, the most by any bowler in the first season of LPL.

Hasranga played for Jaffna Kings in LPL 2021 and amassed 11 wickets in 10 games at 22.27. The Jaffna outfit won their second title in a row. Hasaranga picked 2/30 in the final as he got rid of the half-centurion Danushka Gunathalika and dismissed Ben Dunk for a golden duck.

Wanindu Hasaranga IPL Career

Wanindu Hasaranga went unsold at the IPL 2021 Auction, but Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) signed him as a replacement for Adam Zampa for the second half of the tournament in UAE. Hasaranga could not impress much in his debut season, but his price went up to 10.75 crore at the IPL 2022 Mega Auction because of his stellar performances in international cricket.

Hasaranga has done a commendable job for RCB in IPL 2022, scalping 21 wickets in 12 matches. He took a five-wicket haul against the Sunrisers Hyderabad and picked up 9 wickets in 8 games in the next season in 2023. However, he was released by the Royal Challengers and was bagged by the Sunrisers in the IPL 2024 auction for INR 1.75 crores, but he was ruled out of IPL 2024 due to chronic heel pain.

Wanindu Hasaranga International Career

Wanindu Hasaranga started his international career in an ODI against Zimbabwe on July 2, 2017. Galle, his hometown, played host to the fixture, and Hasaranga made history by claiming a hat-trick on his ODI debut. In the third over of his international career, Hasaranga dismissed Donald Tiripano, Malcolm Waller, and Tendai Chatara to wipe out Zimbabwe’s tail and complete his hat-trick.

Even though Hasaranga had an impressive debut, he had to wait till 2019 to start his T20I career, while he made his Test debut in 2020.

Wanindu Hasaranga ODI Career

Wanindu Hasaranga's first ODI game was against Zimbabwe in Galle in July 2017. He registered figures 3/15 from 2.4 overs and picked the wickets of Malcolm Waller, Donald Tiripano, and Tendai Chatara to start his ODI career with a hat-trick on debut. The spinner accumulated eight wickets in four matches at an average of 18 in his first ODI series.

In his next series against India, Hasaranga had a challenging time on the pitch as he struggled to pick wickets and was able to dismiss Kedar Jadhav in the three games he played. His bowling average in the series was 83.

He played a couple of games in the tri-series involving Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. The bowler didn't fetch any wickets from the 10 overs he bowled in the tri-series in January 2018.

Hasaranga wasn't picked in the ODI team for almost 20 months before he made a comeback in the ODI series against Pakistan. For the first time, Hasranga was handed to bowl his full quota of overs in an ODI match and the leg-spinner made sure to not disappoint this time. He got the better of Pakistan openers Fakhar Zaman and Imam-ul-Haq.

Hasaranga trapped Abid Ali for lbw in the final ODI, however, his issues with conceding plenty of runs still haunted him. He picked only one wicket in the three-ODI West Indies series.

It was Hasaranga's batting that caught the eye of everyone from the year 2021 onwards. He made 47 in 31 balls while batting at No.9 and followed it up with a fiery 80 not out in the final ODI. It was the highest score by a Sri Lankan player at No.8 in ODIs and his 123-run stand with Ashen Bandara pushed the team's score to 274/6.

Hasaranga scored another breathtaking knock of 74 against Bangladesh at No.8 to prove his mettle and value in the lower middle order. He was promoted to bat higher in the order during the England away ODIs. He made a good impression with a composed 54 in the first ODI.

In June 2022, Hasaranga claimed 4/58 in the first ODI against Australia although the hosts lost by two wickets. 

Hasaranga equaled the 33-year-long record of Waqar Younis as he became the second player to bag three consecutive five-wicket hauls in ODIs and the first player to do so in an ODI series, in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 Qualifiers. However, he did not feature in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 held in India as he could not recover from a grade three hamstring tear.

Hasaranga claimed his career-best ODI figures of 7/19 against Zimbabwe in January 2024, which was also the fifth-best figures in ODIs and the second-best ODI figures.

Wanindu Hasaranga Test Career

Wanindu Hasaranga played his first Test against South Africa on December 26, 2020, in Centurion. He made 59 in the second innings but Sri Lanka lost by an innings and 45 runs.

Hasranga scored 122 runs at 30.50 and picked four wickets at an average of 52.50 in two Tests against the Proteas.

Hasaranga played just two Tests against England and Bangladesh but focused on making giant strides in white-ball formats.

Wanindu Hasaranga has played only four Test matches for Sri Lanka as of June 2024. He made his debut against South Africa in the 2020 Boxing Day Test match. The leg-spinner has managed four wickets in four games in the longest format of the game. He had announced his retirement from Tests in August 2023 to focus on his white-ball career but came back from retirement in March 2024. However, he had to face a two-match ban as he had accumulated about eight demerit points in a two-year period prior to his retirement.

Wanindu Hasaranga T20I Career

Although Wanindu Hasaranga started his ODI journey in 2017, he had to keep his patience to make appearance in T20I cricket. Hasaranga played a vital role in a second-tier squad led by Dasun Shanaka in the 2019 tour of Pakistan. The leg-spinner picked eight wickets in three games at an average of 9.88 and an economy of 6.58. His wickets in the middle were important for Sri Lanka to upset Pakistan 3-0.

Hasaranga got hit for big runs in the two T20Is against Australia late in October 2019. However, he had a far better performance against India having picked three wickets in two games at an economy rate of 7.13.

Hasaranga had a terrific run in the three T20I matches against a star-studded West Indies batting order. He mustered figures of 3/12 from four overs in the first match and followed with 3/17 (4 overs) and 2/13 (4 overs) in the second and third games. Hasaranga dismissed West Indies batter Lendl Simmons in all three innings of the series.

In July 2021, Hasaranga picked a four-wicket haul in the decisive game between Sri Lanka and India. He registered career-best figures 4/9 against a depleted Indian batting unit.

He finished the series with seven wickets at 9.57 and an economy rate of 5.58 as Sri Lanka claimed their first T20I series win against India with a 2-1 margin.

Hasaranga was the leading wicket-taker in the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 in UAE. He snapped 16 wickets in eight matches, including the qualifiers fixtures. After promotes to bat at No.5 in the second match of qualifiers vs Ireland, Hasaranga made 71 in 47 balls and smashed 10 fours and a six. He stitched 123 rund with opener Pathum Nissanka to resurrect the Sri Lankan innings after some fiesty early blows.

He got five wickets in each of the bilateral T20I series against Australia in 2022. His highlight was the figures of 4/33 claimed in Colombo in the second T20I.

Hasaranga won the player of the series in Sri Lanka's title victory in Asia Cup 2022. He amassed 66 runs at 22 and nine wickets at 18.89. Hasaranga's 21-ball 36 were crucial runs for Sri Lanka after they were reeling at 58/5 at one stage. He picked three wickets in his final over to turn the tables around the corner.

Hasaranga featured in the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 held in Australia and has been appointed as the skipper for Sri Lanka in the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup 2024.

Wanindu Hasaranga Captaincy

Wanindu Hasaranga was appointed as the skipper for Sri Lanka in their T20I series against Zimbabwe and he led the island nation to a series victory over Zimbabwe (2-1). Following his exploits in the shortest format of the game, Hasaranga was named the skipper for the ICC T20 World Cup 2024.

Wanindu Hasaranga Under-19 Career

Wanindu Hasaranga was part of the Under-19 squad which represented Sri Lanka at the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup 2016. He picked up 7 wickets in 6 innings and managed to score only 93 runs with the bat in 5 innings.

Wanindu Hasaranga’s Family

Wanindu Hasaranga has a brother named Chaturanga de Silva who is also a professional cricketer. Chaturanga played seven ODIs and a couple of T20 Internationals for the Sri Lanka national team. He also plays for Jaffna in the LPL.

Hasaranga married his long-time girlfriend Vindya on March 9, 2023.

Wanindu Hasaranga’s Net Worth

As of 2024, Wanindu Hasaranga’s net worth is estimated to be around INR 16 crores or USD 2 million.