Wanindu Hasaranga's 3 best IPL moments

Sri Lankan leg-break bowler Wanindu Hasaranga has been among the best young stars in white-ball cricket over the last few years. Having made his international debut in 2017, the 26-year-old has been amongst the wickets routinely and producing numerous match-winning performances for the Lankan Lions.

Hasaranga has also weaved his magic with the bat with valuable cameos down the order for Sri Lanka in ODIs and T20s. Hasaranga also made headlines in his debut game, grabbing a hat trick in the ODI series against Zimbabwe and becoming the youngest bowler to achieve the feat.

The Galle-born cricketer also made history by becoming the first Sri Lankan to take a hat trick in a T20 World Cup during the 2021 edition. Later that year, Hasaranga became the No. 1 ranked bowler in the shortest format.

The young sensation was also the leading wicket-taker in the recently concluded World Cup Qualifiers, helping Sri Lanka qualify for the mega event later this year.

Hasarnga's tremendous performances led to Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) drafting the Sri Lankan into the squad as a replacement for the second half of the 2021 IPL season. The franchise subsequently bought the star cricketer for ₹ 10.75 crores at the 2022 Mega Auction.

The 26-year-old has been part of the RCB setup since and has played 26 total matches for them since debuting in 2021. While he had a relatively quiet start to his IPL stint in 2021, Hasaranga exploded with 26 wickets in the next season.

The talented spinner added another nine wickets last season to take his overall tally to 35 wickets in the IPL at an impressive average of 21.27, including a four-wicket and five-wicket haul.

As Wanindu Hasaranga celebrates his 26th birthday on Saturday, July 29, let us look back and cherish three of his best IPL moments thus far.

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# 1 Match-Winning 5-fer against SRH, IPL 2022

Wanindu Hasaranga produced the best bowling performance of his brief IPL career in a pivotal group stage encounter of the 2022 season against the Sun Risers Hyderabad (SRH) at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

Following a sparkling beginning to their campaign, RCB suffered a mid-season debacle and found themselves at six wins in 11 games. In a desperate need to win the SRH game to stay alive in the playoff race, the side scored 192/3 on a usual placid Mumbai pitch. In reply, SRH steadied the ship to 50/2 in eight overs after a couple of early wickets.

With the Hyderabad run-chase getting set for take-off, Hasaranga demolished the SRH lineup by picking up five of the next eight wickets. His scalps included dangermen Aiden Markram and Nicholas Pooran, leading RCB to a dominating 67 runs to boost their playoff hopes.

The Sri Lankan star finished with extraordinary figures of 5/18 in four overs and was adjudged the Player of the Match.

Hasarnga finished the 2022 IPL as the second leading wicket-taker, with 26 scalps at an impressive average of 16.54. His exploits led RCB to qualify for the playoffs for a third consecutive season.

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# 2 Bullet throw to dismiss Sam Curran, IPL 2023

While Wanindu Hasaranga had an on-off IPL season in 2023, he produced one of the best moments with his brilliant fielding. RCB struggled at the start of the season, with only two wins in five games, when they faced off against the Punjab Kings (PBKS) in a crucial encounter.

After scratching their way to a competitive 174/4 in 20 overs, RCB reduced PKBS to 43/4 when skipper Sam Curran joined hands with in-form opener Prabhsimran Singh.

The duo added 33 off 26 deliveries and looked set to lead PBKS to a successful run chase. However, Hasaranga had other ideas, as he moved swiftly and shied a rocket throw from the backward-point region to catch Curran napping at the non-striker's end.

The dismissal sparked a sensational turnaround as RCB picked up the remaining wickets in no time to dismiss PBKS for 150 and emerge victorious by 24 runs.

Hasaranga also dismissed dangermen Matthew Short and Shahrukh Khan in addition to his magical run-out to dent PBKS' run-chase.

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# 3 Comes back to break crucial partnership in the IPL 2022 Eliminator

After a hat trick of dismal seasons from 2017 to 2019, RCB qualified for the IPL playoffs from 2020 to 2022.

However, in 2020 and 2021, the franchise suffered defeat in the Eliminator to be knocked out of the competition. As the side hoped to be third-time lucky in 2022, they faced off against the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in the Eliminator.

After posting a massive total of 207/4, RCB seemed to be firm favorites to take the next step in their bid to break the trophy jinx. However, LSG skipper KL Rahul and No. 4 batter Deepak Hooda had other ideas as they stitched an 84-run partnership to bring the required runs down to a manageable 83 off 36 deliveries.

Skipper Faf du Plessis handed the crucial 15th over to Hasaranga, and Sri Lankan was smashed for two maximums of his first three balls by Hooda. With the game seemingly slipping away, the champion bowler displayed nerves of steel and deceived Hooda with a magnificent googly.

Going for a slog sweep similar to the previous delivery, the batter was cleaned up by the guile and bravado of Hasaranga. The dismissal broke the dangerous partnership and led to a lower middle-order collapse as LSG fell short of the target by 14 runs.

RCB finally won the Eliminator and advanced to Qualifier 2, the furthest the side had been since 2016 when they played the grand finale.