Balapuwaduge Ajantha Winslo Mendis a Second Lieutenant in Sri Lankan army is one of the latest to the list of the funny named player in Sri Lankan cricket team. As lengthy his name is; so are his variations in balling. He is one of those rare kinds of bowlers who can ball 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. The Sri Lankan spinner who made the predictions of former Australian cricketer Peter Philpott come true that “there is a great future for an accurate off-spinner who produces a difficult to detect leg spinner every now and then”. His appearance in international cricket turned out to be the answer of the long term question i.e. ‘who will replace Muttiah Muralitharan?’
On the basis of a strong domestic and first class background Mendis made his One day debut at the year 2008 against Caribbean Giants in their homeland. Playing an away match at its debut never seemed to add any kind of pressure; rather he made an impressive start with a fantastic figure of 3 for 39. He made his test Debut on July 23, 2008 against India where he continued his stunning performance by picking up 8 wickets. His potential to ball with different variations gave him the nick name of ‘The Mysterious Bowler’.
The young charismatic bowler came to the lamplight when he took his carrier best figures of 6 for 13 later that year in the finals of Asia Cup against India’s strong batting lineup. His 17 wickets in the tournament duly earned him the Man-of-the-Series award and soon after earned a call-up to the Test squad to face India at home. On September 10, 2008, Ajantha Mendis has won the “Emerging Player of the Year” award at the ICC Awards ceremony in Dubai. Barely six months after this incident Ajanta Mendis came under the microscope of critics because of his poor form. The critics pointed out that he is spoilt by the fanfare and was framed as a clumsiest fielder in the team. His batting skills where compared to a roadside soft ball player. After all the fame and fortune in 2008, he was dropped from both one day and test squad in 2009.
Treated rather shabbily by the Indian and Pakistani batsmen after that magical debut series; Mendis made his comeback to the test team against India in the second test match 2010 and made an emphatic statement with a figure of 6 for 67 including wickets of Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, V.V.S Laxman. This seemed to be a special comeback after being dropped out of the first test.
His performance proved to be better after trying to overcome all his technical flaws in his balling, but it was true that a ‘bit better’ wouldn’t be enough for him to survive in international cricket. But the youngster has still much more surprise packages to offer.
The Mysterious Facts:
1. His first class record is quite astonishing - 19 matches, 111 wickets at an average of 14.5.
2. His List A record even more so - 20 matches, 40 wickets at an average of 11.5.
3. In a test match against India in 2010 he made an impressive maiden half century with 78 runs, in which he played the maximum number of balls than any player in the team. This seems to be something rare for a number 10 batsmen.
4. He has a record of completing the fastest 50 wickets breaking the wicket of Ajit Agarkar in just 19 matches.
5. With a figure of 8 for 32 he became the first Sri Lankan bowler to get an eight-wicket haul on Test debut.
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