Kamindu Mendis, Sri Lanka's new X-factor down the order

Kamindu Mendis is fond of making an immediate impression. To begin with, since his debut in 2018, he has been the highest-averaging batter in first-class cricket for any Sri Lankan batter with over 2000 runs. He averages 64.9 with 36 fifty-plus scores including 16 hundreds in 71 innings – that is a fifty in every second innings and a hundred in every fourth or fifth innings. 

It is a crazy record. In world cricket overall, Mendis is fifth highest when it comes to batting average, with only Sarfaraz Khan and Yashasvi Jaiswal ahead of him among batters with Test cricket experience in any capacity. 

On his Test debut against Australia in Galle in 2022, Mendis scored a handy 61, forging a 133-run partnership with Dinesh Chandimal. In his second Test (earlier this year in Bangladesh), Mendis hammered twin hundreds, leading Sri Lanka’s recovery from 57/5 to 259/6 in the first innings, and from 126/6 to 299/7 in the second. 

There could have been three hundreds in a row had he not run out of partners in the following Test, scoring 92 not out. Piling runs both home and away, Mendis turned himself into a banker in very little time batting between six and eight. 

Cometh Sri Lanka’s tour of England, Mendis’ first tour outside Asia. And continuing the trend, he has again left an immediate impression, scoring 113 in the second innings, the only hundred of the match for the visitors. 

Barring the conditions, there were plenty of similarities between his ton today (August 24) and his efforts back in the subcontinent. Be it the game situation, his batting style, strokeplay, or innings construction, Mendis made Manchester and Sylhet look alike. 

The 25-year-old replaced Dhananjaya de Silva in the middle. Sri Lanka were still trailing by 27 runs and presuming a fracture to Chandimal’s injured thumb, they were effectively five down. 

Mendis first battled the situation with Angelo Mathews, contributing 45 in a 78-run stand that put Sri Lanka into the lead. Later, he was again the senior contributor in a 117-run partnership with Chandimal, who returned to bat. The duo gave them a fighting chance, stretching Sri Lanka’s lead to 204. 

Mendis plays the ball late, regardless of whether he defends or scores. This Joe Root-like feature in his technique enables him to score runs in England. Facing pace in Asia, 73% of his runs came from three regions only — square of the wicket on both sides and the cover region, which alone brought him 35% of his runs. The hundred in Manchester had 78% of his runs versus pace coming from these three areas. 

However, and quite surprisingly, Mendis doesn’t score anything down the ground. In Asia against pace, he had only 3% of his 186 runs between mid-off and mid-on. In Manchester, he didn’t score anything in that arc, including both pace and spin. 113 runs and not a single run in the V.

He also dealt expertly with the inconsistent bounce off the good length area. One could assess it between de Silva’s wicket (low bounce) and the delivery that almost broke Chandimal’s thumb. Mendis batted outside the crease but rode the bounce while opening the face of his bat. The slow-motion replays from the broadcasters showed Mendis dabbing a rising delivery to the third-man area, with both his feet up in the air, making contact with the ball well past him. 

Having moved from 97 to 113 with four crisp boundaries, Mendis fell to the new ball poking outside the off stump. Out of his six dismissals in Test cricket, three have come fending outside the off stump, showing a potential chink in his armor. In fact, he was out to similar deliveries in both innings. 

Sri Lanka’s innings plummeted after Mendis’ dismissal. The lower-order couldn’t fight it out with Chandimal and they managed only 20 runs for their last four wickets. Despite the fightback, Sri Lanka were left wondering if they could have scored another 50 runs. 

In only four Tests, Mendis has now been part of four century partnerships and another four 50-plus stands. He averages 92.2 having achieved the feats of twin hundreds in an away Test and now a hundred in his first Test in England. All these three tons have come at seven or below, levelling him with Kapil Dev in terms of most overseas hundreds in the last four batting positions.

Moreover, he has made a pretty convincing argument that he can score runs abroad. 

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