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The injury woes have struck the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) camp in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 as their new recruit Wanindu Hasaranga has been ruled out for the remainder of the tournament. Citing which the franchise have decided to rope in the young Sri Lanka spinner Vijaykanth Viyaskanth for the base amount of INR 50 Lakhs.
The franchise’s selection of Vijaykanth comes as a surprise, considering he has only appeared in one T20 International for his country. Hence, whether this move by SRH proves to be wise or not remains to be seen with time. Coming back to Hasaranga, the SRH franchise acquired the services of the Sri Lankan leg spinner during the 2024 auction at his base price of INR 1.50 Crore.
The Sri Lankan leg spinner had previously played for Royal Challengers Bangalore in IPL 2022 and IPL 2023 after being initially picked for a staggering amount of INR 10.75 crores at the 2022 player auction. In the IPL 2022, Hasaranga played 16 games where he scalped 26 wickets at an economy of 7.54. However, in IPL 2023 Hasaranga played just eight games and picked up nine wickets at a disappointing economy of 8.89, which was supposedly the major reason why RCB let go of him.
Who is Vijaykanth Viyaskanth?
It would be no wrong to say that the latest addition to the SRH squad serves as a direct replacement for his senior national teammate. The 22-year-old spinner debuted internationally as a frontline spinner at the Hangzhou Asian Games. Interestingly, this is not Vijaykanth’s first stint with a domestic T20 franchise. The leg spinner has previously represented MI Emirates in ILT20, Chattogram Challengers in the Bangladesh Premier League, and also Jaffna Kings in the Lanka Premier League.
In his short career of 33 matches, the Jaffna-born spinner has taken a total of 42 wickets at an average of 18.78 with 3/14 being his best performance so far. He also has an economy of 6.76 across all the matches he has played so far. Additionally, he has also featured in six first-class games where he has picked up 16 wickets.
The star Sri Lanka spinner made his way to the SRH squad through the player auction held last December and was picked by the champions of 2016 for Rs 1.5 crore. However, until now he was unable to debut as the team understood that he was suffering from continuous pain in his left foot. Hence, this is the reason why the veteran spinner could not make his debut for the new franchise.
In the previous seasons, the Sri Lanka leg spinner played for Royal Challengers Bangalore in his first two seasons after being bought for a whopping sum of Rs 10.75 crore at the 2022 player auction of IPL. Moreover, Hasaranga had an outstanding debut season with RCB, taking 26 wickets, his involvement was limited last year before the team released him.
Who is Vijayakanth?
Vijayakanth is another leg-spinner who hails from Sri Lanka. He has until now only participated in one T20 International for his national team thus far. Moreover, it is expected that Vijayakanth will be joining SRH at his base price of Rs 50 lakh. Viyaskanth who is currently 22 years of age has showcased his talent for Sri Lanka during one T20I at the 2023 Asian Games which were held in Hangzhou.
Vijayakanth impressed while playing for MI Emirates in the ILT20, claiming eight wickets in four matches. Additionally, he also has previous experience playing for Chattogram Challengers in the BPL and Jaffna Kings in the Lanka Premier League. Until now the leg spinner has an average of 18.78 in 33 T20 matches played so far with an economy of 6.76 and a strike rate of 16.6.
