NEP vs SL: Wanindu Hasaranga demolishes Lasith Malinga's record to become Sri Lanka's greatest-ever in this aspect

Sri Lanka skipper Wanindu Hasaranga achieved a massive feat for the national team in the T20Is. The leg-spinner surpassed Lasith Malinga to become the highest wicket-taker for the island nation in the shortest format of the game. 

Skipper Wanindu Hasaranga achieved the feat in Sri Lanka’s second game in the T20 World Cup 2024 against Bangladesh. The match between the two teams took place on Sunday (8th June) at the Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas. 

Wanindu Hasaranga had a decent game as a bowler for Sri Lanka in the match against Bangladesh. The leg-spinner picked two wickets but his effort went in vain as his team lost the game by the barest of margin at the Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas. 

With two wickets in the game against Bangladesh, skipper Wanindu Hasaranga completed 108 wickets for Sri Lanka in the shortest format of the game. He overtook Lasith Malinga who took 107 wickets in the format for his team in his career. He is also ahead of Nuwan Kulasekara (66), Ajantha Mendis (66), and Dushmantha Chameera (55).

Wanindu Hasaranga has been an incredible servant for Sri Lanka. The leg-spinner is rated as one of the best spinners in the T20I cricket. He is currently the No.2 ranked bowler in the ICC rankings and is also the No.1 ranked all-rounder in the rankings, which speaks about his caliber as a player. 

Sri Lanka face a disappointing two-wicket loss against Bangladesh 

Coming to the game between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in the T20 World Cup 2024, the Wanindu Hasranga-led side faced a disappointing loss against their rivals. In what was a nail-biter, the island nation went on to lose the game by 2 wickets and suffered a second straight loss in the tournament.

It wasn’t a great outing with the bat for Sri Lanka. Pathum Nissanka (47) took Sri Lanka off to a decent start with the bat despite Kusal Mendis (10) and Kamindu Mendis (1) getting out early. They struggled to get going in the middle as well. 

Dhananjaya de Silva (21) made a vital contribution as well along with Charith Asalnka (19) but Sri Lanka kept losing at regular intervals and was under pressure. Angelo Mathews (16) tried to up the ante in the end but couldn’t as Sri Lanka posted just 124 runs. For Bangladesh, Mustafizur Rahman and Rishad Hossain picked three wickets each. 

Defending the target, Sri Lanka started pretty well as they removed Tanzid Hasan (3) and Soumya Sarkar early along with skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto (7). They left the opposition reeling at 28/3 and it seemed that they would close the game. 

But Litton Das (36) and Towhid Hridoy (40) joined hands and bailed the team out of trouble. The duo added 63 runs for the fourth wicket and took their team close to the target. The match went down to the wire before Mahmudullah (16*) took his team home with two wickets in hand.