Test cricket is never easy, irrespective of batting or bowling, and very few get a good start in their career. The spin all-rounder from Sri Lanka, Kamindu Mendis, has begun his red-ball career with a supreme touch with the bat, having recorded the most consistent start of the format in the history of the game.
Kamindu Mendis celebrated his fourth century of the format against New Zealand in the opening Test of the ongoing two-match series at the Galle International Stadium with a 114-run knock, where he smashed 11 boundaries in the contest. In the second innings of the format, he failed for 13 runs.
In the last game, the left-handed batter equaled a record of 50+ scores in most consecutive Tests from the debut game in the format. Another left-handed batter in the current generation from Pakistan, Saud Shakeel, also started superbly with seven such scores.
Kamindu Mendis touches the rarest feat; celebrates eighth 50+ score since the debut
When the spinner came into the limelight during the warm-up game against England in the 2016 ODI World Cup at the Under-19 stage in Dhaka, the reason for it was different. Kamindu Mendis could bowl with both his right and left hand, but hardly his batting abilities were known to the world until he made his debut in the format.
When Kamindu Mendis came into the middle during the second ongoing Test against the Tim Southee-led side, the home side was in a powerful position of 221/3 in the third session after the 97-run stand for the third wicket between centurion Dinesh Chandimal and Angelo Matthews.
The need of the hour was to bat sensibly without any anticlimax on a surface that was quite dry and didn’t produce many issues with the spin and bounce. He cracked his eighth half-century by the end of the first day’s play to put up a rare record in the five-day format of the game.
He goes past Shakeel in the list of 50+ scores in most successive Test matches since his debut. The Kiwi batter, Bert Sutcliffe, Basil Butcher from the West Indies, Saeed Ahmed of Pakistan, and India’s former captain Sunil Gavaskar- all have notched up six 50+ scores back-to-back since making his debut in the format.
Kamindu Mendis had an excellent time in England recently, where he won the ‘Player of the Series’ award from the visiting side, having notched up the third most runs in the series with 267 runs in five innings at an average of over 53 and a strike rate of 63 thanks to his two half-centuries and a best score of 113.
Currently, he has scored over 900 runs for Sri Lanka in the format at an average of over 80 and a strike rate of more than 60, shouldering on five half-centuries and four centuries.
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Since 2018, Kamindu Mendis now has joined the former captain of Pakistan, Babar Azam, who has eight 50+ scores in most consecutive games during 2022, and Mendis will have the opportunity to surpass him once he makes the trip to South Africa later this year.
Sri Lanka had an excellent day on the opening day, losing only three wickets on a dry surface, which is expected to break down towards the end of the game after they decided to bat first, having won the toss. New Zealand has found themselves in the backfoot from the first day of the game.