Performance of the week: Ajantha Mendis
July 9th, 2008 by TWC in International, One-day cricket and tagged ajantha mendis, india, odi, sri lanka
2. Ajantha Mendis 6-13, Sri Lanka v India, Karachi, July 6 2008.
For those who believe that one-day teams should pick bowlers who take wickets rather than “mix up the pace and keep it tight”, Sunday brought two cheering performances.
In St Kitts, Australia’s Mitchell Johnson dismissed Chris Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan for just 12 runs, then blew away the tail to finish with 5-29 – but, as so often, his batsmen had racked up 341 making attacking bowling much easier. On the other side of the world, in Karachi, Mahela Jayawadene tossed the ball to young mystery spinner Ajantha Mendis with India 76-1 after 9 overs and the frightening prospect of Virender Sehwag in full cry at the other end. Two balls later, Sehwag was bamboozled and comprehensively stumped. Seven overs later, Mendis had added the scalps of Yuvraj, Raina and Sharma and Sri Lanka had the match as good as won.
Mendis finished with figures of 8-1-13-6 and, for his reminder that wicket-taking can win ODIs too, a Performance of the Week Award. Here’s his mystery demonstrated if not explained.
By Gary Naylor
Posted in International, One-day cricket |
July 9th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
I’m looking forward to seeing him next year.
July 9th, 2008 at 2:26 pm
Does he have any flaws in his action that the Aussies can moan about or Hair no-ball him for?
July 9th, 2008 at 3:59 pm
That’s one of the delicious things about him. He looks completely legitimate whether 15% flex or not, if slightly running through the crease.
Let’s hope the IPL doesn’t swallow him.
July 9th, 2008 at 4:10 pm
Daniel whether he has a flaw in his action has nothing to do with whether Australians will hate him or not.
We have already used that one.
July 9th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
What is Hair’s excuse going to be then?
July 9th, 2008 at 4:28 pm
If they don’t bring him, I’ll be gutted. I note that my other favourite youthful sub-continental spinner (Chawla) isn’t in the Test squad for the next series.
July 9th, 2008 at 6:40 pm
Chawla is a class act - he’ll be back.
July 9th, 2008 at 8:46 pm
Performance of the week? Possibly the performance of his life!
If he can get over the initial slump he’s bound to have once a couple of batsmen figure him out, he could be as good as some people are saying.
By the way, how come there’s an RSS feed for comments but I can’t find the one for posts?
July 10th, 2008 at 8:47 am
That is hopefully being sorted as I write AP Webster, thanks for the feedback.