Spin legend and Sunrisers Hyderabad assistant coach Muttiah Muralitharan has opened up on the unavailability of Sri Lanka leggie Wanindu Hasranga in IPL 2024. The premier spinner missed the initial matches for SRH in the cash-rich league and some reports suggest that he might get ruled out of the entire season due to an injury.
In the absence of Hasarnaga, SRH lacked an overseas spin option as the responsibilities are on Washington Sundar and Mayank Markande to get the job done in the spin department.
Muralitharan asserted that even SRH’s management is clueless about whether Hasaranga will join them or not.
“In the auction, we bought one of the best leg-spinners, Hasaranga. He is struggling with some niggles. He is hoping to join from 4th or 5th (April). It’s a question mark from our side whether he comes or not.”
Hasaranga recently featured in Sri Lanka’s white-ball series against Bangladesh but according to reports, he did it while going through a substantial amount of pain.
During the six matches that he played in the limited-overs format, Hasaranga claimed eight wickets, with six coming in the ODI series and two in the T20I.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Cricket CEO Ashley de Silva has stated that the leg-spinner won’t take part in the cash-rich league due to injury as he has to undergo rehabilitation to get fully fit for the T20 World Cup.
“He is not taking part in the IPL as he needs to do some rehabilitation after meeting the podiatrist. There’s a swelling in the heel, and he has been playing with injections. So he has decided to get this issue sorted out before the World Cup and informed us of his decision to skip the IPL this year,” Sri Lanka CEO Ashley de Silva told The Sunday Times.
However, Hasaranga’s manager told Cricbuzz earlier this week that Hasaranga would join SRH “sooner rather than later.”
“All I can say is he will definitely join the team,” his manager had further said.
When asked whether low money was a reason behind not joining the SRH camp, Hasaranga’s manager categorically denied the claim.
“If money was a factor, we could have enrolled for an INR 2 crore base price. Besides, fewer games mean less money. He has to take care of his ankle. He is also the captain of the national team,” the manager had said.
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