V for Vandersay

Wanindu Hasaranga ruled out of the ODI series. 

It was Sri Lanka’s third blow after just one ODI into the three-match series. They were losing players at the rate at which burgers were being mauled and sold out in the United States of America. 

Except that Hasaranga wasn’t any other bowler; he was a bowler that most teams would struggle to replace, but not Sri Lanka, who effortlessly swapped him for Jeffrey Vandersay. 

This is the same Vandersay who hadn’t played a single ODI in nearly six months, the same Vandersay who, since his debut in 2015, had only bowled around 150 overs and picked up 27 wickets. The same one that Sri Lanka had deemed as a surplus when constructing a squad for the future.

Okay, you might not believe me if you had watched today’s game, but let me tell you this: in the entirety of the Lanka Premier League 2024, Vandersay had just bowled FOUR OVERS!! 

Let me add one more thing here: he went wicketless in the only game that he played. This is why when Sri Lanka announced that Vandersay was going to replace Hasaranga, NO ONE BATTED AN EYE. 

NO ONE REALLY TOOK HIM SERIOUSLY. 

But cometh the hour, cometh one hell of an ODI spell from Vandersay, who told India that victory isn’t so easy, not today, on August 4. 

Rohit Sharma’s 34-ball 53 already took India to 80, one-third of the target. Now imagine being Vandersay, you have just watched your own bowlers getting brutal treatment from Rohit, and the pitch hasn’t spun enough to cause any damage. 

Rohit is still up against you. 

But that’s where people with nothing to lose are the most dangerous. 

It took him exactly four balls to turn the ball viciously past Rohit’s blade. It was sharp, vicious and, more importantly, prodigious. Even a well-set Rohit could only get a top edge. At that moment, even for a tiny second, you wouldn’t have guessed how the rest of the innings was going to pan out.

Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, and Shivam Dube were still out there. All of them are not only more than capable against spin but also proven match-winners. That’s where Vandersay did the most important thing for an athlete: he ‘believed’, a belief in his skills.

Luck often only favours the brave. Vandersay was bowling on a different surface. He read the Indian batters like nursery rhymes for a doctorate. 

Unlike Hasaranga, who ducks a bit before bowling it with a sidearm, Vandersay is much more classical, with a top arm. What beat the Indian batters was that his deliveries had a certain bit of pace that was unplayable on this surface. Not just that, the angle of release also meant that the ball had a lot of drift before zipping past the edge of a right-hander. 

While Gill’s wicket was truly an art form from Kamindu Mendis, Vandersay did the unthinkable against Shivam Dube, beating the left-hander with a sharp leggie that caught the hard-hitting batter completely off guard. 

Yet again, Dube wasn’t just beaten by the sharp turn, he was also beaten by the pace at which the ball changed its direction. Virat Kohli, at the non-striker’s end, knew that it was as plumb as it could ever get. 

For the longest time, Kohli watched Vandersay go about his thing at the non-striker’s end, trying to read him. But even that was to no avail, as the leggie unleashed a vicious flipper that went past Kohli’s inside edge and headed straight towards the stump. 

In just seven overs, India went from cruising at 95/0 to 123/4, with all heads turning. It wasn’t the first time a Sri Lankan mystery spinner was spinning a web around the Indian batting outfit but the way Vandersay was bowling, it felt like a wicket was around the corner every over. 

Suddenly, India were staring at abysmal. 

At this exact moment, you already know what’s going to happen next, right? But even then, you have this weird feeling and belief that Shreyas Iyer could take India home. He’s done it previously, right? He will do it again, right? 

That’s when Vandersay delivered the killer blow, removing Iyer with a perfectly disguised googly that bamboozled Iyer with his first ODI five-for, and out of NOWHERE!! AFTER ALL, HE WASN’T EVEN IN SRI LANKA’S INITIAL PLANS. 

When someone already smells blood, they won’t let you go before absolutely tormenting you to the bits. That’s when the 34-year-old removed KL Rahul as well. It was almost like watching highlights. Every delivery, same result. 

Leg-spin? Wicket! 

Top-spin? Wicket! 

Googly? Wicket! 

Flipper? Wicket! 

Had you watched the match live, you would have wondered where Vandersay was before this series. Where were Sri Lanka hiding him? Out of nowhere, how on earth did he put up a spell like this? 

If you watched any bit of Vandersay’s bowling before this series, you are BOUND TO BE SHOCKED! After all, he had picked up just eight wickets in his last ten innings and six wickets in his last six List-A appearances. 

"Hasaranga is our No. 1 spinner. I got to understand the atmosphere of the team and team balance. I have to keep pushing myself. There was assistance in the wicket, I was trying to hit the good areas. Once I got my first wicket, that built up my confidence. Fortunately, I was able to take six wickets," Vandersay said in the post-match presentation. 

P.S. You know that series ‘DEXTER’, where he goes on a killing spree?

Here’s some trivia: Jeffrey Vandersay’s middle name is Dexter. No wonder he’s killed all of India’s hopes.

If you’ve not downloaded the Cricket.com app yet, you’re missing out — big time. Play Fantasy on Cricket.com NOW! Download the App here.