Wanindu Hasaranga became the new owner of the Purple Cap in IPL 2022 earlier tonight during the 60th match of the competition. The Royal Challengers Bangalore leg-spinner overtook his former teammate Yuzvendra Chahal on the leaderboard by scalping two wickets against the Punjab Kings at the Brabourne Stadium.
RCB captain Faf du Plessis won the toss and elected to field first at the Brabourne Stadium, but the decision did not work in his team’s favor. The Punjab Kings batters decimated the RCB bowling attack. Josh Hazlewood, who had been one of the best bowlers for the Royal Challengers Bangalore in this tournament, had a forgettable day in the office as he remained wicketless and conceded 64 runs in his four-over spell.
Even retained Mohammad Siraj went for big runs in his short spell of two overs. Wanindu Hasaranga and Harshal Patel’s excellent bowling ensured that the Punjab Kings did not finish with a total of around 250 runs. Hasaranga bowled a disciplined spell of 2/15, while Harshal picked up four crucial wickets for the Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Heading into the match against the Punjab Kings, Hasaranga had two wickets less than Rajasthan Royals’ leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal. The RR star held the Purple Cap with 23 wickets from 12 matches, while Hasaranga had 21 wickets from the same number of games.
Wanindu Hasaranga climbed to the number one position tonight
After taking two wickets in his four-over spell against the Punjab Kings, Wanindu Hasaranga jumped to the top spot on the Purple Cap leaderboard. He has the same number of wickets as Yuzvendra Chahal.
Many fans were confused when they saw Hasaranga above Chahal when there was a tie because the former had played one match more. But Hasaranga’s economy rate (7.48) is slightly better than Chahal (7.54) which is why he got the Purple Cap.
A Purple Cap lead for Wanindu Hasaranga by 0.05 better economy than Yuzvendra Chahal. pic.twitter.com/Ei0ka4bXN2
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) May 13, 2022
