Ajantha Mendis
Encyclopedia
Balapuwaduge Ajantha Winslo Mendis (born March 11, 1985 in Moratuwa
) is a cricket
er who plays for the Sri Lankan national cricket team.
Mendis, although classified as slow-medium, bowls a mixture of deliveries, including googlies, off-breaks, top-spinners, flippers and leg-breaks, as well as the carrom ball
, released with a flick of his middle finger. For Sri Lanka Army in 2007-08 he averaged a mere 10.56 and took 46 wickets in six games, his strike rate a startling 31. This gained him a call-up to the full Sri Lanka squad for the Caribbean tour in April 2008.
His best bowling performance in a One Day International came in the final of the 2008 Asia Cup, where he took 6 wickets for 13 runs in just his eighth match. His 17 wickets in the tournament earned him the Man of the Series award.
Mendis made his One Day International debut against the West Indies at Port of Spain
in 2008 and took 3 for 39. He also plays for the Kolkata Knight Riders
in the Indian Premier League
.
His first Test Match
was against India at Colombo
on July 23, 2008 in which he returned match figures of 8-132, thereby becoming the first Sri Lankan bowler to get an eight-wicket haul on Test debut.
Ajantha Mendis won the Emerging Player of the Year award at the LG ICC Awards ceremony held in Dubai in September 2008.
On March 3, 2009, the bus that carried the Sri Lankan cricketers to the Gaddafi Stadium
in Lahore
, for the third day's play of the second Test match between Sri Lanka and Pakistan, was fired at by masked gunmen
. Mendis was among seven Sri Lankan cricketers who were injured in the attack, which killed five policemen who guarded the bus.
On August 6, 2010, Mendis scored his maiden half century, 78 against India. Notably he faced the most balls of all the batsmen in the innings, something rare for a number 10 batsman.
. He is the third child in a family of five with an elder brother and a sister. He was raised Catholic. He has had his basic education at St Anthony's College at Kadalana in his village where there were no facilities at all for sports. He subsequently entered Moratuwa Maha Vidyalaya in the year of 2000. During a cricket coaching class, Mendis' talents were initially identified by the school coach named Mr Lucky Rogers back in the year 1998 when he was just 13 years of age. In the year 2000 he represented the school under 15 cricket team and he was selected to the first eleven team. He also deputized for the school team captain. This slow medium bowler with a variation of leg spin was adjudged the Best Bowler at the big-matches twice in 2001 and 2002.
Sri Lanka Army Cricket Committee noticed his talents when he played a cricket match against the Army under 23 Division 11 during 2003/2004 tournaments. Following this he was invited to enlist in the regular force of the Sri Lanka Army, this was particularly due to the low number of cricketers from Colombo schools joining the Army in the recent years. He enlisted, partly due to the reason that his father, the bread-winner for the family had died the week before due to a heart attack.
in the Sri Lanka Artillery
, a regiment of the Sri Lanka Army. Following the Asia Cup final, he has been promoted to the rank of Sergeant
on 7 July 2008 and the next day commissioned
as a Second Lieutenant
.
in time to come and nicknamed him as "Mysterious Bowler". His performance in the said tournament got the National Selectors to observe him further closely, after he became the most successful bowler by taking 68 wickets in nine matches which is also a record in any form of domestic cricket.
In the 2010 County Championship
Mendis was to play for Hampshire
as their overseas player for the season as a replacement for Imran Tahir
, but he was unable to fulfill his contract and never appeared for the county.
He now, however, has confirmed that he will be playing for South West side Somerset
in the upcoming 2011 English domestic season.
Jerome Jayaratne, the Sri Lanka Cricket Academy coach, said: "Mendis is unusual, freaky and has developed a ball which he releases with a snap of his fingers (carrom ball
), which is very unusual compared to other orthodox spin bowlers." That ball is reminiscent of the former Australia spinner Johnny Gleeson, who had a similar delivery.
Although the ball can be made to either turn away or into a right-handed batsman, Mendis uses it to turn away from a right-handed batsman, in order to contrast it with his off-breaks and googlies. The Australian Test cricketer and coach Peter Philpott
actually predicted the rise of a bowler such as Mendis in a book written in 1973.http://planetnz.com/palmheads/myhacks.php?pg=bent_finger
, Port of Spain, on 10 April 2008. He announced his arrival on the international stage with three for 39 off 10 overs in this game, and confounded the West Indian batsmen with his range of variations without a perceptible change in his action. Rob Steen summed up the impact of this initial performance by stating "I have just seen the future of spin bowling - and his name is Ajantha Mendis."
Ajantha Mendis, playing his eighth ODI, picked up the first six-wicket haul in the Asia Cup final against India in July 2008. His 6 for 13 is the third-best bowling performance in a tournament final, and the third-best for a spinner in ODIs. His 17 wickets is the best for an edition of the Asia Cup, and he bagged those wickets at an astounding average of 8.52. Ajantha Mendis won the man of the match award in the finals as well as the player of the tournament award for his efforts.
He has also broken fastest 50 wicket record in ODI, previously held by Ajit Agarkar of India for 23 matches. He broke the record by snatching 50 wickets in just 19 matches.
against India in at the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground
, Colombo, on 23 July 2008. He claimed his first Test wicket in his fifth over, bowling Rahul Dravid
with a delivery now christened the carrom ball, that turned from middle and hit off stump. He went on to claim the wickets of Anil Kumble
, Zaheer Khan
& VVS Laxman to finish with figures of 4 for 72 in his maiden test bowling performance. He followed this up with 4 for 60 in India's second inings. Ajantha Mendis' match figures of 8 for 132 are the best by any Sri Lankan bowler on Test debut, bettering Kuruppurachchi's 7 for 85 against Pakistan in 1985-86. After the game Muttiah Muralitharan
stated that "When I started playing Test cricket, I was not as good as Mendis. He is exceptional. He is the future of Sri Lankan cricket,". Mendis collected his first ten-wicket haul in the very next match, which Sri Lanka went on to lose. With 26 wickets (ave.18.38) in the series, Mendis has passed Alec Bedser
's world record for most wickets by a bowler on his debut in a three-Test series. Ajantha Mendis won the player of the series award for his efforts. On August 6, 2010 during the three-Test series against India, Mendis scored 78.
debut against Zimbabwe in King City, Canada. He claimed four for 15 in four overs and won the man of the match award. In the next game he took four wickets for 17 against Canada and went on to take three wickets for 23 in the four-nation series final against Pakistan, helping his side to a five-wicket win. For his remarkable performance of 11 wickets for 55 in just three games, Ajantha Mendis was adjudged the player of the series. In the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 in England, Mendis was the third highest wicket taker, behind Pakistan's Saeed Ajmal
and Umar Gul
. He was a contender for Man of the Tournament, but came third behind team mate Tillakaratne Dilshan.
On 8 August 2011, Ajantha Mendis helped Sri Lanka to win against Australia in the second Twenty20 international
and win the two-match series 2-0. Mendis had a spell of six for 16, setting a new record for the best Twenty20 international bowling figures, and becoming the first bowler to take six wickets in a Twenty20 international, surpassing Umar Gul's five wickets for six runs recorded against New Zealand in 2009. He claimed the wickets of Shane Watson (57), David Warner (16), Shaun Marsh (0), Steven Smith (12), Brad Haddin (0) and Mitchell Johnson (7) in the Australian innings. He was awarded the man of the match award for his performance.
The Emerging Player of the Year Award was one of eight individual prizes given at the 2008, ICC Awards. Players eligible for this award must be under 26 years of age at the start of the voting period (August 9, 2007) and have played no more than five Test matches and/or 10 ODIs before the start of the voting period.
Moratuwa
Moratuwa is a city on the southwestern coast of Sri Lanka, near Dehiwela-Mount Lavinia. It is situated on the Galle–Colombo main highway, 18 km south of the capital, Colombo. Moratuwa is surrounded on three sides by water, except in the north of the city, by the Indian Ocean on the west...
) is a cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
er who plays for the Sri Lankan national cricket team.
Mendis, although classified as slow-medium, bowls a mixture of deliveries, including googlies, off-breaks, top-spinners, flippers and leg-breaks, as well as the carrom ball
Carrom Ball
The carrom ball is a style of spin bowling delivery used in cricket. The ball is released by flicking it between the thumb and a bent middle finger in order to impart spin. Though the delivery is known to date from at least the 1940s, it was re-introduced into mainstream international cricket in...
, released with a flick of his middle finger. For Sri Lanka Army in 2007-08 he averaged a mere 10.56 and took 46 wickets in six games, his strike rate a startling 31. This gained him a call-up to the full Sri Lanka squad for the Caribbean tour in April 2008.
His best bowling performance in a One Day International came in the final of the 2008 Asia Cup, where he took 6 wickets for 13 runs in just his eighth match. His 17 wickets in the tournament earned him the Man of the Series award.
Mendis made his One Day International debut against the West Indies at Port of Spain
Port of Spain
Port of Spain, also written as Port-of-Spain, is the capital of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and the country's third-largest municipality, after San Fernando and Chaguanas. The city has a municipal population of 49,031 , a metropolitan population of 128,026 and a transient daily population...
in 2008 and took 3 for 39. He also plays for the Kolkata Knight Riders
Kolkata Knight Riders
Kolkata Knight Riders is the franchise representing Kolkata in the Indian Premier League, a Twenty20 cricket tournament. Sourav Ganguly led the team in IPL1 and IPL3, Brendon McCullum in IPL2, and Gautam Gambhir in IPL4...
in the Indian Premier League
Indian Premier League
The Indian Premier League is a professional league for Twenty20 cricket competition in India. It was initiated by the Board of Control for Cricket in India , headquartered in Mumbai, and is supervised by BCCI Vice President Rajeev Shukla, who serves as the league's Chairman and Commissioner...
.
His first Test Match
Test cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...
was against India at Colombo
Colombo
Colombo is the largest city of Sri Lanka. It is located on the west coast of the island and adjacent to Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte, the capital of Sri Lanka. Colombo is often referred to as the capital of the country, since Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte is a satellite city of Colombo...
on July 23, 2008 in which he returned match figures of 8-132, thereby becoming the first Sri Lankan bowler to get an eight-wicket haul on Test debut.
Ajantha Mendis won the Emerging Player of the Year award at the LG ICC Awards ceremony held in Dubai in September 2008.
On March 3, 2009, the bus that carried the Sri Lankan cricketers to the Gaddafi Stadium
Gaddafi Stadium
Gaddafi Stadium is a cricket ground in Lahore, Pakistan. It was designed by Daghestani-born architect and engineer Nasreddin Murat-Khan who also designed Lahore's Minar-e-Pakistan and constructed by Mian Abdul Khaliq and Company in 1959. Following the ground's renovation for the 1996 Cricket World...
in Lahore
Lahore
Lahore is the capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab and the second largest city in the country. With a rich and fabulous history dating back to over a thousand years ago, Lahore is no doubt Pakistan's cultural capital. One of the most densely populated cities in the world, Lahore remains a...
, for the third day's play of the second Test match between Sri Lanka and Pakistan, was fired at by masked gunmen
2009 attack on the Sri Lanka national cricket team
The Sri Lankan cricket team attack occurred on March 3, 2009, when a bus carrying Sri Lankan cricketers, part of a larger convoy, was fired upon by 12 gunmen, near the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, Pakistan. The cricketers were on their way to play the third day of the second Test against the...
. Mendis was among seven Sri Lankan cricketers who were injured in the attack, which killed five policemen who guarded the bus.
On August 6, 2010, Mendis scored his maiden half century, 78 against India. Notably he faced the most balls of all the batsmen in the innings, something rare for a number 10 batsman.
Early years and personal life
Born on March 11, 1985, Mendis hails from a hamlet in MoratuwaMoratuwa
Moratuwa is a city on the southwestern coast of Sri Lanka, near Dehiwela-Mount Lavinia. It is situated on the Galle–Colombo main highway, 18 km south of the capital, Colombo. Moratuwa is surrounded on three sides by water, except in the north of the city, by the Indian Ocean on the west...
. He is the third child in a family of five with an elder brother and a sister. He was raised Catholic. He has had his basic education at St Anthony's College at Kadalana in his village where there were no facilities at all for sports. He subsequently entered Moratuwa Maha Vidyalaya in the year of 2000. During a cricket coaching class, Mendis' talents were initially identified by the school coach named Mr Lucky Rogers back in the year 1998 when he was just 13 years of age. In the year 2000 he represented the school under 15 cricket team and he was selected to the first eleven team. He also deputized for the school team captain. This slow medium bowler with a variation of leg spin was adjudged the Best Bowler at the big-matches twice in 2001 and 2002.
Sri Lanka Army Cricket Committee noticed his talents when he played a cricket match against the Army under 23 Division 11 during 2003/2004 tournaments. Following this he was invited to enlist in the regular force of the Sri Lanka Army, this was particularly due to the low number of cricketers from Colombo schools joining the Army in the recent years. He enlisted, partly due to the reason that his father, the bread-winner for the family had died the week before due to a heart attack.
Military career
Following basic training he played for the army team and saw active military service as a GunnerGunner (rank)
Gunner is a rank equivalent to Private in the British Army Royal Artillery and the artillery corps of other Commonwealth armies. The next highest rank is usually Lance-Bombardier, although in the Royal Canadian Artillery it is Bombardier....
in the Sri Lanka Artillery
Sri Lanka Artillery
The Sri Lanka Artillery is a corps of the Sri Lanka Army. It is made up of 7 regular regiments and 2 volunteer regiments. The SLA is headquartered at Panagoda Cantonment, Panagoda.-History:...
, a regiment of the Sri Lanka Army. Following the Asia Cup final, he has been promoted to the rank of Sergeant
Sergeant
Sergeant is a rank used in some form by most militaries, police forces, and other uniformed organizations around the world. Its origins are the Latin serviens, "one who serves", through the French term Sergent....
on 7 July 2008 and the next day commissioned
Officer (armed forces)
An officer is a member of an armed force or uniformed service who holds a position of authority. Commissioned officers derive authority directly from a sovereign power and, as such, hold a commission charging them with the duties and responsibilities of a specific office or position...
as a Second Lieutenant
Second Lieutenant
Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces.- United Kingdom and Commonwealth :The rank second lieutenant was introduced throughout the British Army in 1871 to replace the rank of ensign , although it had long been used in the Royal Artillery, Royal...
.
Domestic cricket
Mendis has represented the Army in 23 limited over matches and 59 two/three day matches, in which he has 38 wickets and 244 wickets respectively to his credit. Mendis bowls off spin as his stock delivery and he has few more variations in his armory- leg spin, top spin and faster bowl. All this was developed during 2006/2007 domestic seasons on his own. He also extended his purple patch in the domestic season 2007/2008 under 23 division 1 tournament and was later selected to the pool of "Academy Squad" organized by Sri Lanka Cricket. There he was able to polish his cricketing skills further. He had the opportunity of touring neighboring India on an eight-day tour in June 2007 where he was given the opportunity to play two, two-day matches. In the meantime, Sri Lanka Cricket selectors could not ignore his performance in the Premier Limited Over Tournament 2007/2008 and got him selected to play in the "Provincial Tournament 2008" representing "Wayamba Province" under the National Captain. In that tournament he performed exceptionally well with the ball. Local TV commentators predicted him as the ideal replacement for senior spinner Muttiah MuralitharanMuttiah Muralitharan
Muttiah Muralitharan , often referred to as Murali, is a former Sri Lankan cricketer who was rated the greatest Test match bowler ever by Wisden Cricketers' Almanack in 2002...
in time to come and nicknamed him as "Mysterious Bowler". His performance in the said tournament got the National Selectors to observe him further closely, after he became the most successful bowler by taking 68 wickets in nine matches which is also a record in any form of domestic cricket.
In the 2010 County Championship
2010 County Championship
The 2010 County Championship season, known as the LV County Championship for sponsorship reasons, was the 111th County Championship season. It was contested through two divisions: Division One and Division Two. Each team played all the others in their division both home and away...
Mendis was to play for Hampshire
Hampshire County Cricket Club
Hampshire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Hampshire in cricket's County Championship. The club was founded in 1863 as a successor to the Hampshire county cricket teams and has played at the Antelope Ground from then until 1885, before moving to the County Ground where it...
as their overseas player for the season as a replacement for Imran Tahir
Imran Tahir
Mohammad Imran Tahir is a Pakistan born South African cricketer. Tahir is a right-handed batsman who is a leg break bowler...
, but he was unable to fulfill his contract and never appeared for the county.
He now, however, has confirmed that he will be playing for South West side Somerset
Somerset County Cricket Club
Somerset County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Somerset...
in the upcoming 2011 English domestic season.
Bowling style
The veteran West Indies cricket writer Tony Becca wrote in the Jamaica Gleaner: "Mendis bowls everything. With a smile on his face as he caresses the ball before delivering it, he bowls the offbreak, he bowls the legbreak, he bowls the googly, he bowls the flipper, he bowls a straight delivery, he bowls them with different grips and different actions, he bowls them with a different trajectory and at a different pace, and he disguises them brilliantly. The result is that he mesmerises, or bamboozles, batsmen.Jerome Jayaratne, the Sri Lanka Cricket Academy coach, said: "Mendis is unusual, freaky and has developed a ball which he releases with a snap of his fingers (carrom ball
Carrom Ball
The carrom ball is a style of spin bowling delivery used in cricket. The ball is released by flicking it between the thumb and a bent middle finger in order to impart spin. Though the delivery is known to date from at least the 1940s, it was re-introduced into mainstream international cricket in...
), which is very unusual compared to other orthodox spin bowlers." That ball is reminiscent of the former Australia spinner Johnny Gleeson, who had a similar delivery.
Although the ball can be made to either turn away or into a right-handed batsman, Mendis uses it to turn away from a right-handed batsman, in order to contrast it with his off-breaks and googlies. The Australian Test cricketer and coach Peter Philpott
Peter Philpott
Peter Ian Philpott was a leg-spin bowler and middle order batsman for New South Wales and Australia in the 1960s. He made his debut in the West Indies in 1964-65 and took 18 wickets...
actually predicted the rise of a bowler such as Mendis in a book written in 1973.http://planetnz.com/palmheads/myhacks.php?pg=bent_finger
"...Eventually I see the Iverson method being best employed by an
orthodox off-spinner. Instead of a basic Iverson attack with occasional
orthodox off-spin, there is a great future for an accurate off-spinner who
produces a difficult to detect leg spinner every now and then. I could
visualise such a bowler causing great concern amongst batsmen, and young
off-spinners might be well rewarded for experimentation in this field..."
One day internationals
Ajantha Mendis made his One Day International debut against West Indies in at the Queen's Park OvalQueen's Park Oval
Queen's Park Oval, in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, is currently the largest capacity cricket ground in the West Indies and has hosted more Test matches than any other ground in the Caribbean. It also hosted a number of matches in the 2007 Cricket World Cup. It is privately owned by the...
, Port of Spain, on 10 April 2008. He announced his arrival on the international stage with three for 39 off 10 overs in this game, and confounded the West Indian batsmen with his range of variations without a perceptible change in his action. Rob Steen summed up the impact of this initial performance by stating "I have just seen the future of spin bowling - and his name is Ajantha Mendis."
Ajantha Mendis, playing his eighth ODI, picked up the first six-wicket haul in the Asia Cup final against India in July 2008. His 6 for 13 is the third-best bowling performance in a tournament final, and the third-best for a spinner in ODIs. His 17 wickets is the best for an edition of the Asia Cup, and he bagged those wickets at an astounding average of 8.52. Ajantha Mendis won the man of the match award in the finals as well as the player of the tournament award for his efforts.
ODI five-wicket matches
| ODI Five-wicket Matches | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | |Match | |City/Country | |Season | |||
| 1 | 5/22 | 5 | UAE | Lahore Lahore Lahore is the capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab and the second largest city in the country. With a rich and fabulous history dating back to over a thousand years ago, Lahore is no doubt Pakistan's cultural capital. One of the most densely populated cities in the world, Lahore remains a... , Pakistan Pakistan Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan... |
Gaddafi Stadium Gaddafi Stadium Gaddafi Stadium is a cricket ground in Lahore, Pakistan. It was designed by Daghestani-born architect and engineer Nasreddin Murat-Khan who also designed Lahore's Minar-e-Pakistan and constructed by Mian Abdul Khaliq and Company in 1959. Following the ground's renovation for the 1996 Cricket World... |
2008 |
| 2 | 6/13 | 8 | India | Karachi Karachi Karachi is the largest city, main seaport and the main financial centre of Pakistan, as well as the capital of the province of Sindh. The city has an estimated population of 13 to 15 million, while the total metropolitan area has a population of over 18 million... , Pakistan Pakistan Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan... |
National Stadium National Stadium, Karachi The National Stadium is a cricket stadium in Karachi, Pakistan. It is currently used for cricket matches, and is home to Karachi's domestic cricket teams. The stadium is able to hold 34,228 spectators, making it the second largest cricket stadium in Pakistan after Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore... |
2008 |
| 3 | 6/29 | 17 | Zimbabwe | Harare Harare Harare before 1982 known as Salisbury) is the largest city and capital of Zimbabwe. It has an estimated population of 1,600,000, with 2,800,000 in its metropolitan area . Administratively, Harare is an independent city equivalent to a province. It is Zimbabwe's largest city and its... , Zimbabwe Zimbabwe Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three... |
Harare Sports Club Harare Sports Club Harare Sports Club is a cricket ground in Harare, Zimbabwe. Initially known as Salisbury Sports Club, Harare Sports Club has served as the primary cricket venue in Rhodesia and Zimbabwe since its inception. The ground became a Test venue in October 1992 when Zimbabwe played their inaugural Test,... |
2008 |
He has also broken fastest 50 wicket record in ODI, previously held by Ajit Agarkar of India for 23 matches. He broke the record by snatching 50 wickets in just 19 matches.
Test cricket
Ajantha Mendis made his debut in Test cricketTest cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...
against India in at the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground
Sinhalese Sports Club Ground
The Sinhalese Sports Club is one of the most famous cricket grounds in Sri Lanka. It is theheadquarters of Sri Lanka Cricket, the controlling body of cricket in Sri Lanka. The Ground often cited as the Lord's of Sri Lanka, hosting most domestic finals and one of preeminent international cricket...
, Colombo, on 23 July 2008. He claimed his first Test wicket in his fifth over, bowling Rahul Dravid
Rahul Dravid
Rahul Sharad Dravid , is a cricketer in the Indian national team, of which he has been a regular member since 1996. He was appointed as the captain of the Indian cricket team in October 2005 and resigned from the post in September 2007. Dravid was honoured as one of the top-five Wisden Cricketers...
with a delivery now christened the carrom ball, that turned from middle and hit off stump. He went on to claim the wickets of Anil Kumble
Anil Kumble
Anil Kumble is a former Indian cricketer and captain of the Indian Test cricket team. He is a right-arm leg spin bowler and a right-hand batsman. He is currently the leading wicket-taker for India in both Test and One Day International matches...
, Zaheer Khan
Zaheer Khan
Zaheer Khan is an Indian cricketer who has been a member of the Indian cricket team since 2000. A left arm fast bowler considered as the best of the Indian fast bowling attack, Zaheer is known for his ability to swing the ball both ways, and as a batsman also holds the record for the highest Test...
& VVS Laxman to finish with figures of 4 for 72 in his maiden test bowling performance. He followed this up with 4 for 60 in India's second inings. Ajantha Mendis' match figures of 8 for 132 are the best by any Sri Lankan bowler on Test debut, bettering Kuruppurachchi's 7 for 85 against Pakistan in 1985-86. After the game Muttiah Muralitharan
Muttiah Muralitharan
Muttiah Muralitharan , often referred to as Murali, is a former Sri Lankan cricketer who was rated the greatest Test match bowler ever by Wisden Cricketers' Almanack in 2002...
stated that "When I started playing Test cricket, I was not as good as Mendis. He is exceptional. He is the future of Sri Lankan cricket,". Mendis collected his first ten-wicket haul in the very next match, which Sri Lanka went on to lose. With 26 wickets (ave.18.38) in the series, Mendis has passed Alec Bedser
Alec Bedser
Sir Alec Victor Bedser, CBE was a professional English cricketer. He was the chairman of selectors for the English national cricket team, and the president of Surrey County Cricket Club...
's world record for most wickets by a bowler on his debut in a three-Test series. Ajantha Mendis won the player of the series award for his efforts. On August 6, 2010 during the three-Test series against India, Mendis scored 78.
Test five-wicket innings
| Test Five-wicket Innings | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | |Match | |City/Country | |Season | |||
| 1 | 6/117 | 2 | India | Galle Galle Galle is a city situated on the southwestern tip of Sri Lanka, 119 km from Colombo. Galle is the capital city of Southern Province of Sri Lanka and it lies in Galle District.... , Sri Lanka Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the... |
Galle International Stadium Galle International Stadium Galle International Stadium is a cricket stadium in Galle, Sri Lanka, situated near the Galle fort and fringed on two sides by the Indian Ocean. It is considered to be one of the most picturesque cricket grounds in the world... |
2008 |
| 2 | 5/56 | 3 | India | Colombo Colombo Colombo is the largest city of Sri Lanka. It is located on the west coast of the island and adjacent to Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte, the capital of Sri Lanka. Colombo is often referred to as the capital of the country, since Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte is a satellite city of Colombo... , Sri Lanka Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the... |
P. Saravanamuttu Stadium | 2008 |
Twenty20 cricket
On 10 October 2008, Ajantha Mendis made his Twenty20Twenty20
Twenty20 is a form of cricket, originally introduced in England for professional inter-county competition by the England and Wales Cricket Board , in 2003. A Twenty20 game involves two teams, each has a single innings, batting for a maximum of 20 overs. Twenty20 cricket is also known as T20 cricket...
debut against Zimbabwe in King City, Canada. He claimed four for 15 in four overs and won the man of the match award. In the next game he took four wickets for 17 against Canada and went on to take three wickets for 23 in the four-nation series final against Pakistan, helping his side to a five-wicket win. For his remarkable performance of 11 wickets for 55 in just three games, Ajantha Mendis was adjudged the player of the series. In the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 in England, Mendis was the third highest wicket taker, behind Pakistan's Saeed Ajmal
Saeed Ajmal
Saeed Ajmal ; born 14 October 1977) is a Pakistani cricketer. He is a right-arm off-spin bowler who also uses the Doosra to good effect.-Early life and domestic cricket:...
and Umar Gul
Umar Gul
Umar Gul is a Pakistani right arm fast medium bowler in cricket who has played Test matches, One Day Internationals and Twenty20 Internationals for the Pakistani cricket team...
. He was a contender for Man of the Tournament, but came third behind team mate Tillakaratne Dilshan.
On 8 August 2011, Ajantha Mendis helped Sri Lanka to win against Australia in the second Twenty20 international
Australian cricket team in Sri Lanka in 2011
The Australian cricket team toured Sri Lanka from 6 August to 20 September 2011. The tour consisted of two Twenty20 Internationals , five One Day Internationals and three Tests played for Warne-Muralidaran Trophy. Four uncapped players had been named in the Australian Test squad; Shaun Marsh,...
and win the two-match series 2-0. Mendis had a spell of six for 16, setting a new record for the best Twenty20 international bowling figures, and becoming the first bowler to take six wickets in a Twenty20 international, surpassing Umar Gul's five wickets for six runs recorded against New Zealand in 2009. He claimed the wickets of Shane Watson (57), David Warner (16), Shaun Marsh (0), Steven Smith (12), Brad Haddin (0) and Mitchell Johnson (7) in the Australian innings. He was awarded the man of the match award for his performance.
ICC Awards
On September 10, 2008, Ajantha Mendis has won the “Emerging Player of the Year” award at the ICC Awards ceremony in Dubai. Mendis was the top choice of the 25-person Voting Academy, coming in ahead of England’s up-and-coming Stuart Broad, South Africa fast bowler Morne Morkel and fast bowler Ishant Sharma of India.The Emerging Player of the Year Award was one of eight individual prizes given at the 2008, ICC Awards. Players eligible for this award must be under 26 years of age at the start of the voting period (August 9, 2007) and have played no more than five Test matches and/or 10 ODIs before the start of the voting period.
Product and brand endorsements
- Dialog TelekomDialog TelekomDialog Axiata PLC is Sri Lanka's largest telecommunications service provider, which operates Dialog Mobile, the country's largest mobile phone network with over 6 million subscribers...
: 2008–Present - Cargills Ceylon PLCCargills Ceylon PLCCargills Ceylon PLC is a leading Sri Lankan food, beverage and retail company which is listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange. It is a part of Ceylon Theatres PLC.-Modern Retailing:Cargills is involved in retailing goods through the following brands:...
: 2008–Present - Indian Oil CorporationIndian Oil CorporationIndian Oil Corporation Limited, or IndianOil, is an Indian state-owned oil and gas corporation with its headquarters are in Mumbai, India. It is India’s largest commercial enterprise, ranked 98th on the Fortune Global 500 list for 2011...
: 2008–Present - Janashakthi Insurance: 2008–Present
- Bank of CeylonBank of CeylonBank of Ceylon is a government-owned, major commercial bank in Sri Lanka. Its head office is located in iconic cylindrical building in the capital Colombo, the political and commercial capital of the islandThe bank has a network of 308 branches and 200+ extension centers covering all parts of the...
: 2008–Present
External links
- Cricinfo profile
- The Mystery Spinner, Ajantha Mendis' first Test wicket
- http://www.indianexpress.com/story/330604.html
- http://content-pak.cricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/359207.html
- http://www.tehelka.com/story_main39.asp?filename=hub280608theslowkiller.asp
- Comparison of three different deliveries by Ajantha Mendis (the carrom ball is referred to as a doosra here)
- Ajantha Mendis in Sinhala