Rangana Herath’s top 3 performances in ODI Cricket

The former Sri Lankan veteran Rangana Herath is celebrated mostly for his extraordinary Test career, as he should be. The left-arm orthodox could not get as much success in limited-overs cricket as he got in Test cricket but his numbers are still notable. In 71 ODIs, he had 74 wickets in his tally at an average of 31.91. 

Probably, the lack of variations made ODI cricket a tough pursuit for him as it happens with a lot of finger spinners. But he did deliver some match-defining bowling spells which will be our subject of focus moving ahead. Let us go through the top 3 bowling performances of Rangana Herath in ODI cricket.

1. 4/20 vs India, 2013

India and Sri Lanka met in the final of a Tri-Series played in 2013, in the Caribbean. The Sri Lankan team batted first in the final but it could only get to 201 runs in the first innings. It was certainly not a match-winning total against a formidable Indian batting unit. But the resilient Sri Lankan bowling attack put up a commendable bowling performance. 

Rangana Herath emerged as the pick of the bowlers for his team with four crucial wickets including the dismissals of Rohit Sharma, Dinesh Karthik, and Ravindra Jadeja. Unfortunately for Sri Lanka, MS Dhoni took the match away as India won the final by 1 wicket.

2. 3/25 vs South Africa, 2013

Here is another economical and impactful bowling spell from Rangana Herath. The South African team chasing a big target of 321 runs in the second innings collapsed. In a collective bowling performance from Sri Lanka, Herath took the lead along with Thisara Perera as both of them picked up 3 wickets. 

The left-arm spinner bowled 8.5 overs and conceded only 25 runs which kept the opposition in check. The pressure kept building and the Proteas were bundled out for 140 runs in the end.

3. 3/25 vs New Zealand, 2013

A similar performance but against a different opposition. In a must-win encounter in the 3-match ODI series against New Zealand, Rangana Herath stepped up to guide his team to victory. The match was curtailed to 33 overs per side. Batting first Sri Lanka scored 211 runs in the first innings. It was a challenging target for the Blackcaps to chase. In the second innings, Rangana Herath proved to be a menace to the opposition as he dismissed 3 key Kiwi batters including Grant Elliott and Luke Ronchi. Eventually, Sri Lanka restricted New Zealand to 126/6, winning the match comfortably by 36 runs. 

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