Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) denies NOC for Wanindu Hasaranga to play in the Hundred

Sri Lanka‘s immensely talented Wanindu Hasaranga has been denied a No Objection Certificate (NOC) by the Sri Lanka board to take part in the Hundred Men’s tournament 2022. Subsequently, Hasaranga has been pulled out of the £100,000 contract with Manchester Originals this year and South Africa’s Tristan Stubbs has been named as his replacement.

It has been learnt that the board has denied a NOC to ensure that Hasaranga is fresh and ready for the upcoming international assignments which include an Asia Cup and a T20 World Cup. The Asia cup is scheduled to start on the 27th of August and will go on until the 11th of September.

The T20 World Cup 2022 will be held a month later in Australia and hence, Sri Lanka has been quite reluctant to provide permission to Hasaranga. The leg spinner has been a revelation in the format in the last couple of years and his variations have been quite effective especially, in the top leagues. He finished as the second highest wicket-taker in IPL 2022 with 26 wickets in 16 games for the Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Manchester Originals start their 2022 campaign against Northern Superchargers

The 25-year-old has already picked up 62 wickets in 38 T20Is for Sri Lanka at an average of 14.1 and he is likely to be the X factor player for the Island nation with his match-winning ability. It will be interesting to see if Hasaranga is retained for the 2023 season by the Manchester Originals as the option still remains under their control.

The Manchester Originals are scheduled to play their first game against the Northern Superchargers on August 5 in the Emirates ground in the Hundred Men’s 2022 edition. So far, two games have been played with the Southern Brave winning their first encounter against Welsh Fire in the opening game of the tournament. London Spirit, on the other hand, picked up a close victory against the Oval Invincibles by just three runs in the second game of the tournament yesterday (August 4).