In a major blow to Pat Cummins-led Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), their star recruit Wanindu Hasaranga has taken a U-turn on his Test retirement and is set to miss their first three games. Hasaranga has been named in Sri Lanka's 17-man squad for the two-Test series in Bangladesh.
Hasaranga had announced his retirement from the longest format of the game in August 2023 to prolong his career in limited overs format.
How many IPL games will Hasaranga miss?
The Test series will begin on March 22, the same day as the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 opener. However, SRH will play their first game against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on March 23. The second Test will begin on March 30 which means Hasaranga will miss the games against Mumbai Indians and Gujarat Titans on March 27 and March 31 respectively.
When will Hasaranga join SRH squad?
Hasaranga is expected to join the SRH squad before their second home game of the season. On April 5, SRH are scheduled to go up against defending champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) led by MS Dhoni.
Hasaranga’s IPL numbers
Hasaranga was picked by SRH for his base price of Rs 1.5 crore in the mini-auction. He was released by Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). In the previous season, he played eight games and picked up nine wickets. He was sensational in the 2022 season for RCB. The leg-spinner took 26 wickets from 16 games including a five-wicket haul.
Sri Lanka at bottom
With two losses in the first two Tests of the ongoing World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-25 cycle, Sri Lanka are at the bottom of the points table. The two-Test series against Najmul Hossain Shanto-led side will be their chance to move up the points table.
SRH’s full IPL squad
Abdul Samad, Abhishek Sharma, Pat Cummins (c), Aiden Markram, Marco Jansen, Rahul Tripathi, Washington Sundar, Glenn Phillips, Sanvir Singh, Heinrich Klaasen, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mayank Agarwal, T. Natarajan, Anmolpreet Singh, Mayank Markande, Upendra Singh Yadav, Umran Malik, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Shahbaz Ahmed, Travis Head, Wanindu Hasaranga, Jaydev Unadkat, Akash Singh, Jhathavedh Subramanyan.
MORE ON SPORTS TAK:
