The 28-year-old Sri Lanka National Cricket Team leg-spinner Wanindu Hasaranga found himself on the unlucky side of things in the Asia Cup 2025 match on Saturday, September 13.
Wanindu Hasaranga hit the stumps of the 27-year-old Bangladesh National Cricket Team batsman Jaker Ali in the fifth match of the Asia Cup 2025, but the latter still survived.
Wanindu Hasaranga turns unlucky, hits stumps, but the batter survives
Bangladesh were invited to bat first in the match by Sri Lanka, and they were off to a disastrous start. The Lankan bowlers showcased sheer dominance and ran through the Bangladesh batting unit.
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Bangladesh were reduced to 38/4 in just 7.2 overs as the batters were unable to get going. Then, in the 10th over, some luck finally favored Bangladesh as batsman Jaker Ali managed to escape a dismissal in a surprising manner.
On the third ball of the 10th over, Wanindu Hasaranga bowled a brilliant googly to Jaker Ali, who couldn’t pick the delivery and was unable to make any connection with the ball.
The ball sneaked past his bat, brushed the outside of the off stump, but the bails didn’t come off. Notably, one bail jumped off the groove briefly before settling back in, leaving Sri Lanka players absolutely shocked.
Since the lucky escape, Jaker Ali has done a good job with the bat and played a decent innings to ensure that his team posted a respectable score on the board.
Asia Cup 2025: Watch: Shocking scenes! Wanindu Hasaranga hits Jaker Ali’s stumps, but the batter survives
— Drizzyat12Kennyat8 (@45kennyat7PM) September 13, 2025
As a captain, it feels great to have him back in the team – Charith Asalanka on Wanindu Hasaranga
Speaking at the pre-match press conference, Sri Lanka skipper Charith Asalanka stated that they are delighted to have the star spinner Wanindu Hasaranga back in the side after he recovered from his injury.
“As a captain, it feels great to have him back in the team. He’s one of our superstars in the white-ball format,” Asalanka said, underlining Hasaranga’s role as a key threat to the Litton Das-led side.
Technically, Sri Lanka are the defending champions at the Asia Cup 2025 even though India won the previous edition of the competition in 2023. This is because India won the 50-over Asia Cup while Sri Lanka won the 20-over Asia Cup in 2022.
Talking about this, Charith Asalanka said that they are using the defending champions title as a motivation.
“Mentally, the fact that we are defending champions is a really good thing,” Sri Lanka captain Charith Asalanka said ahead of his team’s first Asia Cup game. “It was a lot of these players that played in that last tournament here [in UAE] as well. We know that because we are champions we can go far. The players are using that as motivation.”
Sri Lanka (Playing XI): Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis(w), Kamil Mishara, Kusal Perera, Charith Asalanka(c), Kamindu Mendis, Dasun Shanaka, Wanindu Hasaranga, Dushmantha Chameera, Matheesha Pathirana, Nuwan Thushara
Bangladesh (Playing XI): Parvez Hossain Emon, Tanzid Hasan Tamim, Litton Das(w/c), Towhid Hridoy, Jaker Ali, Shamim Hossain, Mahedi Hasan, Rishad Hossain, Tanzim Hasan Sakib, Shoriful Islam, Mustafizur Rahman
