Ajantha Mendis and how to play him

[umpire]

Is he anyway related to Duleep Mendis? Any SL supporter here?

[Cricketics]

no he isn't related to Duleep Mendis.. just another Mendis he is.. and no i am not sl supporter.. just Regular Cricket passionate..

[umpire]

his bowling is interesting 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.

[msb1991]

I am going to stick my head out and say that he is the future spearhead of the Sri Lankan attack.

[Cricketics]

he has been very much hyped up by the media already. being called "The next Murali" letz see how he goes in future..

[f.b.m]

I like the look of him although I think he'll be far more succesful in Odis than in test matches.

[umpire]

What an over, offies, leggies, completely bamboozling player like Sarwan, who is excellent player of spin bowling. Although I think Mendis will soon be found out. Excellent over by Mendis 20.6 Mendis to Sarwan, no run, hits him low on the pad as he tries to defend, he survives a confident shout 20.5 Mendis to Sarwan, no run, the offspinner, Sarwan is confused here as he tucks it to short midwicket 20.4 Mendis to Sarwan, no run 20.3 Mendis to Sarwan, no run, the legbreak, he gets forward and gets a thick inside edge onto hos pads 20.2 Mendis to Sarwan, no run, flighted outside leg, he gets forward and defends 20.1 Mendis to Sarwan, no run, pitches outside leg, straightens, he shuffles and gets rapped on the pads

[msb1991]

On the contrary, I believe that he will have most success when he can have 9 fielders packed around the bat.

[Sachinism]

he grips the ball in a strange way, not something you'd expect from a spinner

[msb1991]

I believe that the one thing he lacks is a much quicker delivery which prevents batsman getting massive strides in.

[Dravid]

WOW WI not picking him at all :O What a ball to sammy... bowled his ass

[kooljatt]

The new Murali? To steal shamelessly from Jon Landau, the man entrusted with selling a scraggy wannabe Bob Dylan by the name of Bruce Springsteen to the planet in 1975, I have just seen the future of spin bowling – and his name is Ajantha Mendis. Until now, given the recent stumbles of Danish Kaneria and the apparent failure of several young Australian twirlers to live up to their billing, detecting the seeds of a new generation of spinners worthy of following the holy trinity of Warne, Murali and Kumble has been a troubling and deflating quest. Whisper it softly, but on the evidence of his international debut in Port-of-Spain today, however chastening his team’s astonishing defeat may have been, this wide-eyed 23-year-old member of the Sri Lankan army could well emerge as the leader of the new pack. Friends in Colombo had warned me that something special was on the horizon, trumpeting Mendis as the owner of the freakiest fingers since Jack Iverson. They werent exaggerating by much. Googlies, leggies, offies and flippers all eased effortlessly from that precociously adaptable right hand, facilitated by three distinct modes of release barely discernible to the devoted couch potato and leaving the batsmen groping and clueless. The ball that bamboozled and lbw-ed Chris Gayle, just as the West Indies captain was threatening to turn a tricky chase into a jaunt, was a worthy calling card. The one that curved in and straightened to take off stump was utterly wasted on Darren Sammy. No less impressive was the way Mendis held his nerve after Jerome Taylor clouted him for six, tossing the next ball up in similar fashion and reaping the reward of an outfield catch. With the game reeling groggily as the implications of the IPL set traditionalists against innovators, old world against new, Shivnarine Chanderpauls improbable sixes off the fifth and last balls of the final over in Trinidad were a profoundly welcome shot in the arm, a reminder that sport is more about drama and improbability than dollars and nonsense. The advent of Mendis could be that and much, much more. Friends in Colombo had warned me that something special was on the horizon, trumpeting Mendis as the owner of the freakiest fingers since Jack Iverson. They weren’t exaggerating by much. Googlies, leggies, offies and flippers all eased effortlessly from that precociously adaptable right hand, facilitated by three distinct modes of release – barely discernible to the devoted couch potato and leaving the batsmen groping and clueless. The ball that bamboozled and lbw-ed Chris Gayle, just as the West Indies captain was threatening to turn a tricky chase into a jaunt, was a worthy calling card. The one that curved in and straightened to take off stump was utterly wasted on Darren Sammy. No less impressive was the way Mendis held his nerve after Jerome Taylor clouted him for six, tossing the next ball up in similar fashion and reaping the reward of an outfield catch. With the game reeling groggily as the implications of the IPL set traditionalists against innovators, old world against new, Shivnarine Chanderpaul’s improbable sixes off the fifth and last balls of the final over in Trinidad were a profoundly welcome shot in the arm, a reminder that sport is more about drama and improbability than dollars and nonsense. The advent of Mendis could be that and much, much more http://blogs.cricinfo.com/robslobs/archives/2008/04/the_new_murali.php#more

[kooljatt]

well....i aint sure he will be next murli or what...it will be too early to compare him with murli..but the way he bowled all those different deliveries with ease on his debut was amazing...and this guy has got 111 wickets in just 19 first class matches at an astonshing avg of 14.54.:omg:..what a special talent...!!

[ludhianvi]

Perhaps a bit too early to compare. I wonder if Sri Lanka will opt for both of them in the test series. That would be interesting on a spinner friendly pitch.

[kooljatt]

West Indies v Sri Lanka, 2nd ODI, Trinidad Murali mark II? AFP April 11, 2008 Ajantha Mendis has got tonuges wagging after his impressive debut © AFP Tougher days surely lie ahead, but Ajantha Mendis appears to be a spin bowler with a bright future based on the evidence of his one-day international debut for Sri Lanka against West Indies in Trinidad. He bowled impressively to collect 3 for 39 as Sri Lanka narrowly failed to win the opening match of the series. It brought to mind Muttiah Muralitharan when he first stepped onto the international scene with his freakish bowling action. Mendis trapped Gayle lbw with a delivery that went straight on, bamboozled Darren Sammy with a flipper that totally squared him up and skidded through to hit the top of off-stump, before holding his nerve after Jerome Taylor clubbed him for six, tossing the next ball up having caught on the long-on boundary. Even Ramnaresh Sarwan appeared clueless at times to what Mendis was delivering, and at one stage, after being deceived by the flight and the turn of a delivery, the West Indies vice-captain looked quizzically at the young spinner with an expression that seemed to suggest he didn't have a clue. Dwayne Bravo, who won the Man-of-the-Match ward, agreed that it was difficult to pick Mendis. "To be honest, when we saw his stats - after 19 first-class matches, he had 111 wickets at an average of 14.54 - we knew he had to be bowling something good," he said. "Sarwan had problems picking him, and from the time we saw this, most of the batters retreated to the dressing room, and had a close look at his hand on the TV monitor. "I actually went and had a look at his hand on the computer, and it was still really difficult to pick him, but I found that once you are prepared to watch the ball closely, it is half the job done. He is a very good bowler, and we will have to go back to drawing board to try to come up with a way to score off his bowling freely." The Sri Lanka coach Trevor Bayliss felt it was an promising effort from Mendis, and he too, believes he could have a long career in the game. "I could tell you about his variations if I knew what they were, and even a lot of our guys struggle to know what he is doing with the ball," Bayliss said. "The poise that he had in the first ODI - not just what he was bowling - to be able to keep a lid on things under pressure in one-day cricket is a very good sign. This has been the exceptional thing from my point of view. To be able to maintain his composure and do what he normally does was brilliant." Bayliss agreed that ODIs were not the best place to experiment, and many coaches may have dissuaded Mendis from doing things his own way, but he said he was prepared to Mendis continue with his natural game. "We just told him to go out there and do whatever he has done in the past," he said. "But it's how young players handle the pressure of international cricket that's critical, and he handled it very well. "From my point of view, the higher up the ladder you go in this game, it's more of a mental thing. It's how you cope with pressure, and if something is working for him at one level, it's no reason why it cannot work at the next." Bayliss says the comparisons with Muralitharan will be inevitable, but for now he is just pleased to have young slow bowlers of the quality of Mendis and legspinner Malinga Bandara at his disposal. "Who knows, one day on one of those typical pitches in south Asia, we will pick all three," he said. For the purists, this would be a delicious prospect. © AFP http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/wivsl/content/current/story/346022.html

[amits]

he can bowl all types of spin - off-spin, leg-spin, googly, doosra. and he is over-hyped in sl where ppl say he is the next muralitharan

[ludhianvi]

he can bowl all types of spin - off-spin' date=' leg-spin, googly, doosra. [/quote'] So can Tendulkar:D

[Dirty_South]

So can Tendulkar:D

Yes ... :two_thumbs_up: ..remember that ball to Moin ???

[Desi Cartman]

and Piyush Chawla is the new warne :hysterical:

[amits]

after 10 years chawla v mendis will be a hotly debated topic just like muralitharan v warne