Ajantha Mendis
Balapuwaduge Ajantha Winslo Mendis (born March 11, 1985 in Moratuwa) is a cricketer who plays for the Sri Lankan national cricket team. A right arm spinner, he made his One-Day International debut against the West Indies at Port of Spain in 2008 and took 3 for 39.
Although classified as a right-arm, slow-medium bowler, Ajantha Mendis is a spinner who bowls a mixture of googlies, offbreaks, top-spinners, flippers and legbreaks. Batsmen have been confounded by the variety of deliveries he has up his sleeve and are at a loss to figure out what his stock delivery is. Mendis was a prolific wicket-taker for Sri Lanka Army in the 2007-08 season and had taken 46 wickets at an average of 10.56 and strike-rate of 31 from six matches. His performances did not go unnoticed for Mendis.
Initial comments
"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, he disguises them brilliantly. The result is that he mesmerises, or bamboozles, batsmen." Tony Becca in the Jamaica Gleaner is impressed
"[Ramnaresh] Sarwan had problems picking him, and from the time we saw this, most of the batsmen retreated to the dressing room and had a close look at his hand on the TV monitor." Dwayne Bravo recalls his first sighting
"I could tell you about his variations if I knew what they were." Sri Lanka coach Trevor Bayliss is mystified about his charge
"Mendis is unusual, freaky and has developed a ball which could be described as a 'flicker', which he releases with a snap of his fingers, which is very unusual compared to other orthodox spin bowlers." Jerome Jayaratne, Sri Lanka Cricket Academy coach, makes a valiant attempt at deconstruction
"I have just seen the future of spin bowling - and his name is Ajantha Mendis." Rob Steen thinks Sri Lanka's latest find is a keeper
"The 23-year-old, we were told, plays his cricket for the Sri Lankan army. I suggest he's going to make a right officers' mess of hundreds of international batsmen's stumps in years to come." Mark Rivlin summons up a pun in praise on Sportingo.com
"Mendis is something special and for a while I've been telling some of the guys to look out for him." Mahela Jayawardene isn't as surprised as the rest of the world.[1]
References
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- ^ "Mystery spinner". cricinfo. 2008-04-18. Retrieved 2008-04-18.
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