When Rajasthan Royals picked Wanindu Hasaranga during the IPL 2025 auction in Jeddah, the franchise simply added arguably Sri Lanka’s best T20 bowler to their ranks.
Wanindu Hasaranga is Sri Lanka’s leading wicket-taker in T20 International cricket with over 100 scalps and the only one from the country to have picked up a hat-trick in the T20 World Cup. His ODI career, in fact, started with a hat-trick.
A leg-spinner, Hasaranga has been one of the most sought-after bowlers in the white-ball format with an envious record in international and franchise cricket. With more than 200 wickets for the Sri Lanka cricket team, in ODIs and T20Is combined, he has rapidly developed as the lynchpin of the Sri Lankan bowling attack.
And to think, the wily spinner started his career as a pacer. At the age of 16, Hasaranga played as a frontline seam bowler and even opened the bowling for the Richmond College cricket team. He switched from pace to spin after witnessing a demonstration of leg-spin bowling by his coach Lanka de Silva.
In 2016, Hasaranga represented Sri Lanka in the Under-19 World Cup in Bangladesh where he helped his side reach the semi-finals. Shortly after, he made his first-class debut with the Sri Lanka Ports Authority Cricket Club and impressed with a quick 87 with the bat.
After moving to the Colombo Cricket Club, his all-round efforts soon came to the fore, headlined by a century, a batting average of just under 40 and a strike rate of 93 along with a five-wicket haul in the 2016-17 domestic first-class season.
His efforts earned him international duties and on his senior Sri Lanka debut in July 2017, Hasaranga picked up a hat-trick in an ODI against Zimbabwe.
It was a rather late entry into the shortest format of the game for Hasaranga, an area where he has excelled. Late in 2019, he made his T20I bow against New Zealand.
It didn’t take time for Hasaranga to make an impact in T20Is. Only a month after his debut in the 20-over game, he earned the Man of the Series title for claiming eight wickets in three matches against Pakistan, which Sri Lanka won 3-0.
Hasaranga has been very popular in franchise leagues all over the world ever since. He began earnestly with the Jaffna Kings in the Lankan Premier League in 2020-21 before representing teams like Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the IPL, Sylhet Sixers in the Bangladesh Premier League and Washington Freedom in Major League Cricket.
In July 2021, he emerged as the chief architect of Sri Lanka’s T20 series win against India. In the decider of the three-match series, he picked up 4/9 in four overs to restrict India to a miserly 81/8. Sri Lanka won the match and Hasaranga was declared Man of the Series.
At the T20 World Cup 2021 a few months later, Hasaranga emerged as the leading wicket-taker in the tournament, scalping 16 from eight matches.
The performances earned him a place in the 2021 ICC Men's T20I Team of the Year. “It was a breakthrough year for Wanindu Hasaranga, who established himself as one of the best spinners in the shortest format while also being a player who could contribute with the bat,” summed up the ICC.
Wanindu Hasaranga made the ICC Men's T20I Team of the Year 2022 as well, earning accolades for steering Sri Lanka to win the Asia Cup. There, the leggie picked up nine wickets in six matches and scored a brilliant 21-ball 36 in the final against Pakistan to rescue his side.
Sandwiched between the ICC accolades was the call from the Indian Premier League. Wanindu Hasaranga joined the Royal Challengers Bengaluru for IPL 2021 and stayed there for three seasons in all.
In his RCB stint, Hasaranga played 26 matches and collected 35 wickets at 21.37 apiece with a 5/18 against Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL 2022 standing out.
