Hasaranga suspended but World Cup not in danger

by Rex Clementine

Fingers are being pointed at the Sri Lanka team management for smartly including Wanindu Hasaranga in the Test squad against Bangladesh so that he could finish serving his suspension and will be available for the T-20 World Cup in June.

Hasaranga had been charged for dissent during the third ODI in Chittagong and once he pleaded guilty, he was going to get suspended for four games. He had missed the first two ODIs on this tour for a similar offence during the third T-20 International against Afghanistan in Dambulla.

Sri Lanka do not have any white ball cricket lead up to the World Cup which meant Hasaranga would have missed the first four games of the World Cup.

Hasaranga had last year retired from Test cricket but was included in the Test squad against Bangladesh, which means he can serve his sentence during the Test series. Missing two Tests is equal to four limited over games according to ICC Code of Conduct.

Many felt that he was deliberately included in the Test squad so that he could be fully available for the World Cup. However, The Island learns the T-20 captain had written to Sri Lanka Cricket about his desire to play Test cricket again.

Although Hasaranga has been prolific in white ball cricket, he has not had the same impact in Test match cricket as proved by his four appearances in the longer format of the game.

The leg-spinner had also not featured in a First Class game since March last year.

Looking things in another perspective, in the day and age of T-20 franchise cricket where players want to play less longer format games, Hasaranga’s return to Test cricket is a welcome move, but whether it will be a bluff shall be known in a few months down the line.

Some give credit to the Sri Lankan management for thinking out of the box especially as they felt that Bangladesh Head Coach Chandika Hathurusinghe was instrumental in pushing the match official for charging Hasaranga.

Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are in Group D in the T-20 World Cup and will be facing each other and not having Hasaranga would have been a blow for the former champions.

Debates and assumptions apart, what is known for sure is that Hasaranga needs to get his act together and if he continues to behave like a spoilt brat, he is going to face bigger problems in the game moving forward.

The first Test of the two-match series starts on Friday.