Ajantha Mendis Profile by CricketArchive

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Player:

BAW Mendis

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DateLine: 1st December 2008

 

Ajantha Mendis is a right arm slow medium bowler who ends up bowling a mixture of googlies, off breaks top spinners, flippers and leg breaks. Batsman struggle to pick him and are not able to figure out what his stock delievery is. Being a part of the Sri Lankan Army, Mendis was a prolific wicket-taker. He picked up 46 wickets at an average of 10.56 from six matches at a strike rate of 31. He was picked for the tour of Carribean in April 2008. He was simultaneously signed by the Kolkatta Knight Riders in the IPL though he did not play a single game. He went on to play in the Asia cup where he was instrumental in Sri Lanka winning the cup. He came up with a brilliant spell of 6 for 13 against the Indians who themselves being good players of spin could not read him. He went on to pick 17 wickets to become the man of the series in the tournament. He then went on to pick 26 wickets in his first test series, the highest by a debutant beating Alec Bedser's record of 24 to become the man of the series. His performance that too against team India which had the fab four at their peak was highly creditable, helping Sri Lanka win the series 2-1. With such a start almost overshadowing Murali at the other end, Sri Lanka have found a successor to Muralitharan who can serve Sri Lanka for a long time to come.