He was bought by the Royals for INR 4.4 crores.
Rajasthan Royals’ new spin signing from the Indian Premier League (IPL 2025) auction, Maheesh Theekshana has sent a strong warning to all the teams ahead of the next season after taking a sensational hattrick in the ongoing NZ vs SL 2nd ODI.
Theekshana, who was bought by the Royals for INR 4.4 crores, picked the hat-trick across two overs in the game. He picked two wickets on the last couple of balls of the 35th over of the Kiwi innings before taking another wicket on the first ball of the 37th over to complete the feat.
Maheesh Theekshana’s first victim was New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner, who went back to the dugout for 20 runs. On the following ball, he claimed Nathan Smith for a golden duck. To complete his hat-trick, the right-arm spinner dismissed Matt Henry for 1 on the very first delivery of his next over.
Notably, Theekshana also entered an elite list of Sri Lankan bowlers following his heroics, becoming the seventh Islander to take a hattrick in the ODI format alongside legends like Chaminda Vaas, Farvees Mahroof amongst others.
Speaking about the match, New Zealand set a challenging target by scoring 255/9 in the allotted 37 overs. Rachin Ravindra led the charge with a brilliant 79 runs off 63 balls, while Mark Chapman also contributed significantly with a well-crafted 62 off 52 deliveries. On the bowling front for Sri Lanka, Maheesh Theekshana stood out as the most effective bowler finishing with figures of 4/44.
Sri Lanka have also started with the chase and are currently in a tight spot, having lost half their side with 125 runs on the board in 24.3 overs. They need more 131 runs to win from 75 deliveries, which at the moment seems like an uphill task.
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