IPL 2022: 3 best Wanindu Hasaranga spells in the tournament

As the ongoing IPL 2022 enters its business end, the competition for the remaining three playoff spots is getting intense. Match 60 of IPL 2022 is set to take place tonight at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai. It will be played between the Royal Challengers Bangalore and the Punjab Kings.

So far this season, RCB have won seven and lost five matches, while PBKS have won five and lost six matches. When both teams faced each other earlier in the league, Punjab Kings won by five wickets in a high-scoring match.

Tonight's game is crucial for both teams. Punjab's hopes of staying alive will depend on their result in this match. As for RCB, they will want to jump up in the points table to the top two with a win tonight.

Bangalore have had a rather good season so far. Faf du Plessis has been brilliant while Rajat Patidar in the top order while Glenn Maxwell and Dinesh Karthik have been fabulous in the middle-order.

Josh Hazlewood and Harshal Patel have been the top seam bowlers for the team but Wanindu Hasaranga takes the cake in the spin department. In just 12 games, the mystery spinner has picked up 21 scalps this season. Hasaranga is simply two wickets behind Purple Cap holder Yuzvendra Chahal.

Let's look at Wanindu Hasarnaga's three best bowling performances in this year's tournament.

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#1 4/20 - RCB vs KKR

Australia v Sri Lanka - ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2021

In the 6th match of IPL 2022, when RCB faced the Kolkata Knight Riders, the former won the toss and elected to bowl. It turned out to be a smart decision.

Both openers Ajinkya Rahane and Venkatesh Iyer were out under 32 runs and skipper Shreyas Iyer was looking to build a partnership to post a defendable total. Hasaranga destroyed all hopes of the KKR captain as he dismissed him way before he could settle.

Next, he sent back Sunil Narine, Sheldon Jackson and Tim Southee to claim 4/20 in his four and help restrict KKR to a mere 128. In response, the RCB batsmen also struggled to for a fine partnership but Sherfane Rutherford and Shahbaz Ahmed's stand and a couple of good shots from Dinesh Karthik at the end helped RCB cross the line with three wickets and four balls to spare.

Wanindu Hasaranga was rightfully declared the Player of the Match for his season's second-best bowling figures.

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#2 2/23 - RCB vs RR

Sri Lanka v Bangladesh - ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2021

When RCB and RR met for the second time this year, the RCB batsmen couldn't complement their bowlers and finish the job. Batting first, the Rajasthan Royals saw themselves at 33/3 and were in a fix. When their skipper Sanju Samson started opening up, hopes began to spark in the RR camp.

But the destroyer of the opposition's hopes, Hasaranga, yet again stepped up and dismissed Samson before he could go big. He later shut down the dangerous Shimron Hetmyer as well before he could settle but Riyan Parag's brilliant half-century at the death powered the Royals to 144 in 20 overs.

In response, none of the Bangalore batsmen could convert their innings into a big one and fell to the might of the Rajasthan bowlers. RCB folded for 115 and the Royals won the game comfortably by a margin of 29 runs.

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#3 5/18 - RCB vs SRH

South Africa v Sri Lanka - ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2021

Wanindu Hasaranga registered his IPL career-best of 5/18 in his four overs in his last outing in the IPL. RCB decided to bat first and Faf du Plessis and Rajat Patidar's 105-run stand directed them towards a decent total.

Dinesh Karthik demonstrated his power-hitting abilities at the death and scored an uneaten 30 off 8 deliveries, laced with a boundary and four maximums. He powered RCB to 192/3 and set a whopping target of 193 for the Hyderabad batsmen.

In response, both SRH openers were dismissed for ducks and they were in a royal fix. Rahul Tripathi started weaving a partnership with Aiden Markram but the latter was taken out by Wanindu Hasaranga's brilliance. The Sri Lankan spinner later dismissed Nicholas Pooran, Jagdeesha Suchith, Shashank Singh and Karthik Tyagi to clean up SRH for 125.

Hasaranga not only went away with 5/18 but also the Player of the Match trophy.