Wanindu Hasaranga - Sri Lanka - Bowling Allrounder

A draft straight from Sri Lanka's under-19s into the national side, Wanindu Hasaranga is an aggressive middle order batsman, who is more than useful with his leggies as well. In a dream start to his international career, he claimed a hat-trick in his very first outing in an ODI in June 2017, cleaning up Zimbabwe's tail - making him only the third debutant and the first leg-spinner in history to do so. All that in only his third over in international cricket, at the age of 19.

He started off in the age divisions primarily as a leg-spinner, impressing in the 2016 Youth World Cup. His batting though soon took over and outshone his bowling as he raked up impressive figures in the two seasons of the Premier League tournament for Colombo Cricket Club. The national selectors were further impressed as the form translated into List A success and he finished the 2016-17 season with the 'Most promising player' award. He carried his form into the 2018 season, emerging as the leading run-scorer for Colombo Cricket Club with 765 runs in nine matches in the Premier League tournament.

In a nascent international career thus far, his brightest moment came in Pakistan, when in the absence of regular stars who pulled out owing to security concerns, he stepped up with memorable performances in the T20Is with a Man of the Series effort in blanking the hosts and the then number one side in the world 3-0. 

In a country famed for producing all-rounders by the bucket in limited overs, Hasaranga has made sure that the trend is rather healthy. Although he hasn't been a consistent feature in any format as yet, his all-round abilities could be vital to Sri Lanka's quest of scripting a turnaround in the wake of rather dismal performances.

Vineet Anantharaman