3 reasons why MI must target Wanindu Hasaranga at the IPL 2025 Auction
Five-time champions Mumbai Indians retained their core group of five capped Indian players ahead of the IPL 2025 Auction. Captain Hardik Pandya will continue to lead MI this season, with Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav, Rohit Sharma, and Tilak Varma also part of the retained players' list.
IPL 2025 Auction will begin shortly in Jeddah, and one of the major areas of concern for the Mumbai Indians is the spin department. In the entire 2022-24 cycle of IPL, MI did not have a game-changer in the spin attack. Experienced leg-spinner Piyush Chawla delivered the goods in a few games, but he could not play the role that Rahul Chahar did for the franchise.
While MI should try their best to get Rahul back in the squad, they can also think of investing in an overseas spinner. Wanindu Hasaranga is one of the best spinners in T20 cricket right now. Here are three reasons why Mumbai Indians must target him at the IPL 2025 Auction.
#1 Wanindu Hasaranga is a quality bowling all-rounder
While Rahul Chahar has worked hard on his batting in recent years, Wanindu Hasaranga is miles ahead of him as a bowling all-rounder. The T20 format has been the format of all-rounders, and Hasaranga has proven on multiple occasions that he can change the game with both bat and ball.
Shedding some light on his numbers in T20 cricket, the Sri Lankan all-rounder has scored 2,314 runs in 160 innings and scalped 287 wickets in 192 innings. His highest score with the bat is 77*, while his best bowling figures are 6/9.
Considering Hasaranga's strike rate in T20s is more than 145, Mumbai Indians can use him like Gujarat Titans utilize Rashid Khan.
#2 Wanindu Hasaranga has a 5-wicket haul at Wankhede Stadium in IPL
Hasaranga was a part of the Royal Challengers Bengaluru team in IPL 2022, a tournament that was majorly played in Maharashtra. While Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium is considered a paradise for batters, Hasaranga stunned the SunRisers Hyderabad by scalping five wickets at this venue.
The leg-spinner won the Man of the Match award for dismissing Aiden Markram, Nicholas Pooran, J Suchith, Shashank Singh, and Umran Malik in that game. This performance shows that Hasaranga knows how to succeed at Wankhede Stadium, which is MI's home venue.
#3 Wanindu Hasaranga will be available entirely from IPL 2025 to 2027
The problem with overseas all-rounders is that they make themselves unavailable. This is due to the hectic schedule or they have to be on national duty at times because they are an integral part of their respective country's playing XIs.
However, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has made it clear that all of its players will be entirely available for IPL 2025. On top of that, the players who get retained for the 2026 and 2027 IPL seasons will be fully available for those two tournaments as well.
Thus, investing in Hasaranga's services will be a wise decision for MI. It will solve their leg-spin bowler's issues for three years and also give them a handy finisher in the lower middle order.