Rangana Herath. (Source -Twitter/X)
Rangana Herath was Sri Lanka’s premier spinner and arguably the second-best the country has ever seen. His testimony could be defined by his achievement of over 1,000 first-class wickets, 500 international wickets, and 400 Test wickets. With Sri Lanka back in the bay producing lethal spinning options as evident during the recent white-ball series against India, Herath named some spinners from the current generations who have impressed him.
The veteran was perceived as the red-ball maverick before he proved his mettle in the shortest format of the game by orchestrating Sri Lanka’s maiden T20 World Cup win in 2014. He picked a five-wicket haul against New Zealand as the Lankan Lions entered the playoffs of the tournament. Speaking of the present-generation spinners, the 42-year-old bifurcated his choices by placing finger spinners and wrist spinners in his elusive list.
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“It’s got to be Ravichandran Ashwin and Nathan Lyon if you take finger spinners. Another one I like is of course Keshav Maharaj from South Africa. I’m also always very keen on watching Kuldeep Yadav bowl I mean. As for Sri Lanka, of course, Prabath Jayasuriya, so yes, these are some of the names that come across my mind,” said Herath as quoted by Cricblog.
Sri Lanka spinners reign supreme against India
Speaking of Sri Lanka’s spin bowling prowess, their spinners reigned supreme in the recent ODI series against India, picking 27 wickets to exert pressure on the mighty Indian batting lineup. Moreover, 27 wickets are the highest for any team in any bilateral series consisting of fewer than four games.
Among the list of bowlers who have picked the most fifers against India, Dunith Wellalage became the first spinner in the list filled with pacers. Speaking of Indian spinners, they picked 16 wickets in the three-match series with Washington Sundar and Kuldeep Yadav picking five and four wickets respectively.
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With the ODI series win against India, Sri Lanka broke a longstanding jinx of not winning a 50-over series against India since 1997. Moreover, Rohit Sharma became the only third Indian captain to lose an ODI series against the Lankan Lions.