Mahela Jayawardene: Hasaranga’s development is quite similar to how Lasith Malinga became who he was
Sri Lankan batting legend Mahela Jayawardene is mighty dazzled with the ascent of Wanindu Hasaranga as he sees qualities of speed bowling great Lasith Malinga in the 25-year-old spin all-rounder.
Sri Lankan batting legend Mahela Jayawardene is mighty dazzled with the ascent of Wanindu Hasaranga as he sees qualities of speed bowling great Lasith Malinga in the 25-year-old spin all-rounder.
Hasaranga, who plays for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League, hoarded the spotlight in the 2021 T20 World Cup in UAE when he beat out everyone else with 16 wickets — the most in a tournament.
He then played an instrumental part both with the bat and ball in their Asia Cup win to rise to world number 4 in the all-rounder’s rankings.
“The way he has blossomed… he’s also from down south, quite close to where Lasith was (Galle) and they have similar mannerisms,”
Jayawardena said in the ICC Review.
“The way they both came out, they started their careers quietly — you know, sat in the corner of the dressing room — and little by little they grew. The hairstyles changed, the tattoos came out, and the whole thing.
“It (Hasaranga’s development) is quite similar to how Lasith became who Lasith was, and that’s how I see the way Wanindu has blossomed as a player.”
The greatest closeness between the two is their fierce competitiveness, said Jayawardene, who is now working as Sri Lanka’s consultant coach.
“The most important thing is, once they cross the field, like Lasith, he is a competitor – that’s what I love about him,”
he said.
“In the last 12 months, he has shown how mature he is — not just as a bowler but with the bat as well. In tough situations, he has come and delivered,”
Jayawardena said.
“But as a leader in that group, even if he doesn’t have the title as the vice-captain or the captain or anything like that, underneath all of that he has become a leader who all the young guys look up to.”
Jayawardena has known Hasaranga since he was a 19-year-old, thanks to former team-mate Chaturanga de Silva, Hasaranga’s brother.
“To be honest, his brother was playing cricket while we were playing cricket as well,”
Jayawardena said.
“So Wanindu was much younger, was playing Under-19 cricket when we were finishing off and then he started playing first-class cricket.
“We always knew that this guy can bowl and bat, but we never knew the quality of bowler he could turn out to be. I mean initially, he didn’t have the accuracy but he always had some X-factor about him, how he went about things.
“That’s where Sri Lanka invested in him when he was quite young, especially in white-ball cricket.”
Sri Lanka won their first warm-up match against Zimbabwe by 33 runs on Tuesday.