Kamindu Mendis pips Saud Shakeel en route a world record

Sri Lanka batter Kamindu Mendis became the first-ever batter in the world to hit at least one 50-plus score in his first eight Tests. The southpaw had equalled Saud Shakeel's record in the previous Test and had gone past Sunil Gavaskar, who had achieved this feat in his first six Tests.

Mendis achieved this historic feat on Day One of the second Test against New Zealand in Galle. In the previous Test, Mendis had scored 114 and 13. As a result, Sri Lanka won the Test by 63 runs and went 1-0 up in the two-match series. 

The 25-year-old scored at a brisk rate in this innings, getting to his fifty in just 53 balls. He reached his landmark with a reverse-sweep off spinner Mitchell Santner in the last over of the day. He finished the day unbeaten on 51 off 56. He has nine scores of 50 or more in 13 Test innings so far. 

The Galle-born made his debut in 2022 against Australia, where he scored 61 in Sri Lanka's innings victory. He did not play for two years after that, but returned earlier this year to score 102 and 164 in the Sylhet Test against Bangladesh. He then scored an unbeaten 92 in the next game in Chattogram. 

He was Sri Lanka's best batter on their tour of England, with scores of 12, 113, 74, 4, 64, 114, 13 and 51*. As things stands, Mendis has 873 runs at an average of 79.36 in eight Tests.

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