Just before the 2024 IPL began, news broke that Wanindu Hasaranga had sustained a heel injury that will prevent him from starting the league. Shortly afterwards, his hiatus was extended to the first week of the season. He was subsequently ruled out of the entire edition.

Hasaranga ruled out

It was a major blow for the Sunrisers, who had pulled off arguably the “steal” of the auction by acquiring Hasaranga, one of the most sought-after cricketers in T20 leagues around the world, at his base price of INR 1.5 crore.

Sunrisers have now named Sri Lankan leg-spinner Vijayakanth Viyaskanth as Hasaranga’s replacement, at the former’s base price of INR 50 lakhs.

Who is Viyaskanth?

From 33 T20 matches, Viyaskanth has 42 wickets at 18.78 while going at 6.76 an over. He has also played six first-class matches (16 wickets at 15.25) and five List A matches (two wickets for 141 runs). Unlike his national captain in the format, however, Viyaskanth has limited batting credentials.

One of Viyaskanth’s 33 matches was an international, in the quarter-final of the 2023 Asian Games at Hangzhou. He returned 1-28 from four overs but Sri Lanka lost to Afghanistan by eight runs.

He finished with 13 wickets (economy 6.68) in LPL 2023, finishing behind only Carlos Brathwaite (18) and Nuwan Thushara (14) and level with Kasun Rajitha. His 22 wickets (at 6.98) are the third-most in the history of the Jaffna franchise, behind Maheesh Theekshana (33) and, when he used to represent them, Hasaranga (28).

Viyaskanth also played for the Chattogram Challengers for BPL 2023, his maiden foray into an overseas T20 league. He had a terrific outing for the MI Emirates in the 2024 ILT20, taking eight wickets at 10.87 while going at 5.43 an over, the most economical for the franchise.

With four points from four games and a net run rate of +0.409, Hyderabad are fifth on the IPL 2024 points table.