Sri Lankan spinner Wanindu Hasaranga, who was roped in as Australian leggie Adam Zampa’s replacement by RCB in IPL 2021, was bought back by the team for the ongoing edition of the marquee tournament. The move has worked extremely well as he has turned out to be one of their most consistent performers.
Meanwhile, Hasaranga has spoken about his bond with fellow spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, who is having a dream season. Chahal is comfortably placed at the top of the Purple Cap list with 23 wickets from 12 matches. Meanwhile, the Lankan cricketer has said that both spinners have respect for each other. “I played the second half of the last season with Yuzi, so we both are very good friends. I appreciate his bowling all the time and he also does the same for me”, said Wanindu Hasaranga while speaking on RCB Bold Diaries.
Hasaranga has succeeded in justifying his hefty price tag of INR 10.75 crore with some outstanding performances with the ball. He registered a match-winning fifer against the southern rivals Sunrisers Hyderabad in the last game where Bangalore emerged victorious by a huge margin of 67 runs to strengthen their playoff hopes. He took the wickets of Aiden Markram, Nicholas Pooran, Jagadeesha Suchith, Shashank Singh, and Umran Malik to break Hyderabad’s backbone and register a thumping win for the Bengaluru-based franchise. More importantly, the match-winning fifer also brought Hasaranga closer to the pole position in the Purple Cap list. With 21 scalps from 12 outings, the Sri Lankan now occupies the second position and just needs three more wickets to get past Chahal.
