He has got better and better as the tournament has progressed: Mike Hesson on Wanindu Hasaranga

RCB took a step closer to a playoff spot with a resounding 67-run win against the Sunrisers. It was Wanindu Hasaranga who claimed an imperative fiver that would deal the most deafening blow to the aspirations of the Sunrisers.

RCB Head coach, Sanjay Bangar heaped praise on the Lankan leggie. “Today was a pitch that was tailor-made for the spinners. Once you get those types of wickets, then really good spinners make it count. That’s exactly how Wanindu would make it count, especially the way he would mix up his variations,” he said.

Bangar would also enlighten about the best parts of Hasaranga’s devastating spell, saying, “His flight was beautiful to watch. He kept on bowling those lengths. Sri(Sridharan Sriram) has been working very hard with him in terms of getting the right speeds at which he has to bowl. For him, as everything would come together and he would finally impose a resonating performance is really special.”

“So far, he hasn’t got the easy wickets because he was always getting a set batter out. Towards the end, he had an opportunity and he actually ran through the tail pretty quickly,” he further added.

RCB’s cricketing director of operations, Mike Hesson was also generous in his praise for the Lankan leggie. “He has got better and better as the tournament has progressed. So, this is really what you want. He has got a lot of confidence that will change his role in the side. On these sort of wickets where there is so much of turn, this is just ideal for this sort of bowlers. Even on difficult flight surfaces, he’s good enough to get a bit of a roll. He’s got wickets for us and that counts. He picked up 21 wickets. He’s getting top-order guys and guys that are set through those middle overs,” said Hesson.