Sri Lankan great Muttiah Muralitharan on Thursday sounded a warning to the teams ahead of next month’s T20 World Cup, saying they will have to be careful against Wanindu Hasaranga as the mysterious spinner would pose a threat on Australian pitches. Hasaranga took nine wickets to lead his team to the Asian Cup title and Muralitharan said he would be one to look out for in the T20 World Cup. “He is a great T20 bowler. For the past 2-3 years he has done very well. He is a young guy,” Muralitharan told reporters in an interaction on the eve of the second edition of the Legends League Cricket.
“In Australia, the leg spinner will definitely have more chances than finger spinners. He will be a tough opponent to hit. You have to be very careful against him.”
Speaking about Sri Lanka’s Asia Cup campaign, Muralitharan said: “We had a very young team in recent years, we played the best cricket in the Asia Cup. They looked like the best team and deserved to win the Asia Cup. ” Sri Lanka will have to travel the qualifying route in the T20 World Cup, where they are clubbed with Namibia, the UAE and the Netherlands. The top two teams make the main round – Super 12.
“We are also looking forward to the World Cup. They are formidable, but unfortunately we have to play the qualifiers to get into the main round,” he said.
“In recent years we have not played well to come in directly. But at the moment I am very confident that I will also do well at the World Cup.”
Muralitharan, who is the highest wicket-taker in Tests with 800 scalps, said Australian leg-spin legend Shane Warne was “better” than him.
Warne died of a heart attack earlier in March this year while on vacation with his friends in Thailand. “I think he was better than me, when I was playing I looked up to him and learned things from him. We all miss him,” said an emotional Muralitharan.
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The former Sri Lankan offspinner will appear for Manipal Tigers in the LLC-2, which will be played between teams in cities such as Kolkata, Lucknow, Cuttack, Jodhpur and New Delhi.
(This story was not edited by NDTV staff and was generated automatically from a syndicated feed.)
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