Hasaranga is as good a cricketer as Yuzi was for us: Mike Hesson

After letting go of Yuzvendra Chahal ahead of the mega auction, Royal Challengers Bangalore made a big purchase in the form of Wanindu Hasaranga and the Sri Lankan spinner has repaid the faith by scalping the second-most number of wickets in the competition already. His five-for against Sunrisers Hyderabad helped RCB to a big win and has kept them in the contention for a playoff hope.

However, Yuzvendra Chahal sits at the top of the pile in terms of Purple Cap and many fans have since criticized the RCB management for letting go of one of their core players. But Mike Hesson is not the one to look back at the decision and rather backed Sri Lankan leg-spinner Wanindu Hasaranga for living up to the expectations.

"From the start, Hasaranga was always getting big players out, he was getting wickets in the middle that got us back in the game, even though he might have got one for 28 which does not cause highlights. He was actually doing a nice job for us," Mike Hesson said on RCB Bold Diaries.

"It was very hard to replace one of our all-time greats and someone like Yuzi, he is an icon at RCB. Hasaranga comes in as his replacement, as the tournament's gone they work out he is a good cricketer as is Yuzi," Hesson said.

RCB's batting and spin bowling coach Sridharan Sriram also lauded the 24-year-old for exceeding expectations. "What we have done with him is, that his run-up has been very up and down so we just fixed his run up the speed at which he delivers is very much the same now. He used to run fast, slow there was a mixed-up pattern to it but the way the speed at which is running, the angles from which he runs, from where he delivers the ball, we are trying to still experiment and keep getting him better so I think there are little tweaks here and there. At the end of the day, they are delivering the results," Sriram said.

He added, "Replacing Yuzvendra Chahal for RCB was not an easy task; Hasaranga comes in with incredible expectations. "Everyone knows what Yuzi has done for RCB and to come and fill into his boots and be second on the list of highest wicket-taker now, full credit to him because of the way he has handled the pressure on the expectation of the Indian public and the RCB fans.

"Some of the criticisms he had to face and how he has bounced back every time, is incredible proof of his sort of temperament."

Speaking about handling pressure situations, Hasaranga said, "I like to get challenges so that's very easy to handle pressure situations for me."