Herath becomes best left-arm spinner
Rangana Herath has been Sri Lanka’s ultimate match-winner since the retirement of Muttiah Muralitharan in 2010 against India in Galle. The left-arm orthodox bowler has been pivotal in the team’s success in the last couple of years and on the final day of the Galle Test against Bangladesh, Herath created history.
When Herath took the wicket of Bangladesh batsman Liton Das, not only did he put Sri Lanka on course for a victory, but he became the most successful left-arm spinner in Test history. Das’ wicket was No.363 for Herath, taking him past the previous record of 362 wickets set by New Zealand’s Daniel Vettori.
Herath went on to take 6/59 as Sri Lanka bowled Bangladesh out for 197 to complete a 259-run win and go 1-0 up in the series. This was Herath’s 29th fivewicket haul, the most among leftarm bowlers in history. In the list of bowlers with five-wicket hauls, both left and right, he is joint-fifth with Australia’s Glenn McGrath.
Herath also has the most 10-wicket hauls in Tests by a leftarm bowler, with seven. In the history of left-arm spinners, Herath is only the second bowler to go past 350 wickets, with the first being Daniel Vettori.
If one has to look at left-arm bowlers overall, pace and spin included, Herath is second in the all-time list, with Pakistan’s Wasim Akram, the leading leftarm bowler with 414 wickets in 104 Tests.
Recently, during the Test series against Zimbabwe in Harare in 2016, Herath became only the third bowler in Test history to take a five-wicket haul against every nation.
Dale Steyn of South Africa and his Sri Lankan compatriot Muralitharan are the only bowlers to have achieved this feat.
In the Galle Test, Herath continued his love affair with the venue. In 16 Tests, he has picked up 93 wickets at an average of 22.97 with nine five-wicket hauls and three 10-wicket hauls. Muralitharan has the most wickets at the venue, with 111 wickets in 15 games at an average of 18.5. Before this record, Herath played a stunning role during the series against Australia as he picked up 28 wickets in three Tests to help Sri Lanka beat Australia 3-0, their first series win against Australia after 17 years.