Rangana Herath is only second to Muttiah Muralitharan when it comes to the number of wickets taken for Sri Lanka in Test cricket. After Murali’s departure from international cricket, Herath filled that void and led the Sri Lankan spin attack with perfection. There was nothing fancy about Rangan Herath, but his process was his success. As it is with every successful Test cricketer, he believed in perseverance to get optimum results. His consistency with his line and lengths made him a wicket-taking option. Let us take a look at some of his outstanding bowling spells in Test cricket that form an integral part of his legacy.
1. 9/127 vs Pakistan, 2014
Rangana Herath delivered his best bowling performance for his team against Pakistan at Colombo. It was the second Test of the series and Sri Lanka had scored 320 runs in the first innings. Pakistan looked comfortable and they dwarfed Sri Lanka’s first-innings total to take the lead. However, had it not been for Herath the quantum of the lead could have been huge. The experienced left-arm spinner picked up a whopping 9 wickets in the first innings to restrict Pakistan to 332 runs. This first-innings performance from him helped Sri Lanka in the long run as the home team won the Test match by 105 runs.
2. 8/63 vs Zimbabwe, 2016
Unlike the previous performance, this one was delivered in an away series against Zimbabwe. In the second innings, Zimbabwe were chasing a mammoth target of 491 runs. The task was daunting and if the opposition has someone like Rangana Herath operating in full swing then the chase becomes ever tougher. The left-arm orthodox almost cleaned up the Zimbabwe batting unit as he picked up 8 wickets. This bowling spell forced the hosts to surrender as they could only accumulate 233 runs in the run chase, handing over an easy victory to Sri Lanka.
3. 7/48 vs India, 2015
Rangana Herath dismissed seven Indian batters in the first Test of the series between India and Sri Lanka in 2015. This is one of his best performances in Test cricket. The Indian team was chasing a low total of 176 runs in the second innings; however, it was still a decent target as batting in the last couple of days is never an easy task in the subcontinent. Rangana Herath made India realize why it was a tough task. The Indian team collapsed dramatically and the orchestrator was none other than the experienced left-arm orthodox. His 7 wickets packed up the run chase with just 112 runs in India’s account. Sri Lanka won the match by 63 runs to take a lead in the series.
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