Ajantha Mendis

Ajantha Mendis - Sri Lanka Player Profile

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Full name Balapuwaduge Ajantha Winslo Mendis
Born March 11, 1985, Moratuwa
Current age 23 years 137 days
Major teams Sri Lanka, Kolkata Knight Riders, Sri Lanka Army, Wayamba
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm offbreak, Legbreak




Career statistics
ODI debut West Indies v Sri Lanka at Port of Spain, Apr 10, 2008

Last ODI India v Sri Lanka at Karachi, Jul 6, 2008
First-class debut Lankan Cricket Club v Sri Lanka Army at Welisara, Nov 17-19, 2006
Last First-class Sri Lanka Army v Moratuwa Sports Club at Panagoda, Mar 21-23, 2008
List A debut Sri Lanka Army v Lankan Cricket Club at Colombo (RPS), Nov 8, 2006
Last List A India v Sri Lanka at Karachi, Jul 6, 2008

Twenty20 debut Sri Lanka Army v Ragama Cricket Club at Colombo (CCC), Feb 28, 2007
Last Twenty20 Kolkata Knight Riders v Kings XI Punjab at Kolkata, May 25, 2008

Profile
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 was called up to the Sri Lanka squad for the tour of West Indies in April 2008. After impressing on debut in the Caribbean, Mendis only grew in stature - in particular, because of his 'flicker', which he releases with an unusual snap of his fingers. In a short span Mendis has flummoxed some international batsmen who've played spin pretty well in their careers. Just ask the Indians, who were clueless against him in the Asia Cup final, where Mendis netted 6 for 13 in his eighth one-day international. 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.