"I think he has become bigger than cricket" - Basit Ali tears apart Wanindu Hasaranga for his poor show in 2nd T20I vs India

Former Pakistan cricketer Basit Ali has lashed out at Sri Lanka's star allrounder Wanindu Hasaranga after his poor performance against India in the second T20I at Pallekele. Hasaranga had a poor day at the office with both bat and ball on Sunday (July 28).

The star allrounder came in to bat at no. 7 in the 17th over of the Sri Lanka's innings. Sri Lanka needed a big finish from Hasaranga but he played a reckless shot in his first ball to be dismissed off a googly.

Despite losing Dasun Shanaka off the previous ball, Hasaranga did not bother to take his time and tried to play a big slog sweep across the line. As a result, he was bowled for a first-ball duck by another fellow legspinner Ravi Bishnoi.

With the ball, Hasaranga was taken to the cleaners by Yashasvi Jaiswal and Suryakumar Yadav. He went for 15 runs in his first four balls and was smashed for 18 runs in his next over to finish with 1-34 in two overs.

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Basit Ali tears apart Wanindu Hasaranga for his poor show

While speaking on his YouTube channel, Basit Ali took a dig at Wanindu Hasaranga for his poor batting and bowling performance and claimed that he has become bigger than cricket.

"Number one all-rounder, Wanindu Hasaranga. I think he has become bigger than cricket. Cricket is small, he is big. He got out on the first ball by playing a poor shot. With the ball, he was taken to the cleaners by Suryakumar Yadav and Yashasvi Jaiswal," Basit Ali said.

Basit did not stop here and took another sarcastic dig at Hasaranga. He asked the officials to give him the Player of the Match award and make him rest for the third T20I. Basit also advised Hasaranga to learn from Ravi Bishnoi.

"According to me, the Man of the Match should be given to Hasaranga. Give him the Player of the Match award and ask him to rest for the third match. He hits silly shots and his bowling is also the same. It seems as if he has become Boom Boom Bumrah. He should learn from (Ravi) Bishnoi," Basit Ali stated.

"Sri Lanka is afraid of India's name" - Basit Ali

The former Pakistan cricketer also mentioned that Sri Lanka might just be afraid of India's name, which is why they are surrendering despite good starts. He slammed the middle order for their inability to convert the scores into big ones.

"Sri Lanka's middle-order batters just couldn't perform. I think India's dominance is such that Sri Lanka is afraid of India's name. In both matches, there were good partnerships followed by sudden collapses. I don't know whether their middle-order knows how to bat or not," Ali wondered.

In both the T20Is so far, Sri Lanka have had good starts but suffered dramatic collapses. In the first T20I, they were 140-1 and were in good shape for their run-chase of 214. But SL lost 9 wickets for 30 runs to be bowled out for 170 in 19.2 overs. The story continued in the second T20I as Sri Lanka lost 7 wickets for 31 runs to get reduced to just 161-9 in 20 overs.