Rajasthan Royals sent Sri Lanka all-rounder Wanindu Hasaranga out to bat at No.5 in their IPL 2025 match against KKR in Guwahati today (March 26). Here's why.
RR were put into bat by KKR after losing the toss. They started well, adding 33 for their first wicket in 3.5 overs. Riyan Parag promoted himself to No.3 but couldn't go past 25, falling to Varun Chakravarthy in the eighth over. Yashasvi Jaiswal then fell in the next over as RR were reduced to 69-3 in 8.4 overs.
At this point, the home team had Dhruv Jurel and Shimron Hetmyer to come, but they promoted Wanindu Hasaranga, playing his first IPL game this year, to No.5.
Also read: Explained: Why Sunil Narine is not playing the KKR vs RR IPL 2025 match
Match 6, Rajasthan Royals vs Kolkata Knight Riders
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Why was Hasaranga promoted?
KKR had Chakravarthy and off-spinner Moeen Ali bowling in tandem. With a left-hander already present on the crease in Nitish Rana, RR wanted to avoid having two left-handed batters in the crease. That, along with Hetmyer's finishing proficiency explains them not sending the West Indian at five.
However, not sending in Jurel, who made a T20 career-best of 70 in the last match, was a curious call.
Hasaranga is generally regarded as a good hitter of spin and has bailed Sri Lanka out of many sticky situations with the bat. Across his T20 career, he strikes at 152 against spinners, although his average is a low 17.5. This record makes him a perfect candidate to take on spin without putting a lot of value on his wicket, which is what the thought process behind RR's move was: attack Chakravarthy and Moeen and protect their best batters from the spin threat. Bating coach Vikram Rathoure later confirmed it on air: "We felt they will be bowling spinners, and wanted him to take them down".
Rahul Dravid, RR's head coach, has a history of promoting all-rounders up the order. During his stint as India head coach, he used to promote Axar Patel at crunch situations, most notably doing so in the 2022 T20 World Cup match against Pakistan and in the 2024 T20 World Cup final.
Hasaranga fails
The move didn't work though as Hasaranga was dismissed for four off four attempting to slog Chakravarthy. Rajasthan might think it didn't cost them much either, and took away four threatening balls from the spells of the two KKR spinners.
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