Ajantha Mendis

Another off-break bowler hailed from Sri Lanka who became a world-beater, Ajantha Mendis announced himself with the figures of 6 for 13 against the power-packed Indian batting line-up in the final of Asia Cup of 2008. Mendis was a mystery spinner who was best known for his invention of the carrom ball, i.e. finger-flicked leg-breaks. However, in the era of video analysts, the wizard got exposed, and injuries worsened his case. 

At a very young age, Mendis’ potential was identified by his school coach who pushed him to take the sport seriously. The spinner flew from the grassroots level to the age-group alley and then joined the Army after his father passed away. Mendis was well supported by the Army where the coaches there made the spinner ready to burst onto the domestic circles. 

The Moratuwa-born had two jaw-dropping seasons that led his way into the Sri Lanka national team. He was fast-tracked for the tour of West Indies in March 2008 and from there, he never dropped a beat. After the West Indies, he was named in the squad for Asia Cup where he first took his maiden five-wicket haul, against UAE, and then amassed the world with a stunner against India to help his nation lift their fourth title. 

Later that season, in July, the Sri Lankan was awarded his maiden Test cap against India where he bowled legends like Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman and finished the match with eight wickets. He then formed a formidable pair with Muttiah Muralitharan. 

His numerous variations allowed Mendis to spin the ball both ways or skid it on, which proved particularly effective in T20 cricket. The Sri Lankan worldwide success earned him huge wealthy IPL contracts from Kolkata Knight Riders and Pune Warriors. 

Apart from performing in India, he became an integral part of the Sri Lankan setup and was regarded as Muralitharan’s successor but it wasn’t meant to be. Apart from playing a huge role in the World T20s of 2009 and 2012, Mendis didn’t do much during Sri Lanka’s title-clinching T20 World Cup in 2014. 

Mendis regularly featured for Sri Lanka across white-ball formats until 2014, when his career was jolted with a back injury. He made a comeback in 2015 where he played 4 ODIs to pick the same number of wickets and then got dropped off the selector’s radar. 

He went back to the domestic grind to reestablish himself and worked on his batting as well. However, after a hard-try of four years, the original mystery spinner in the video analysis age called it off and retired from all forms of the game in 2019.

(As of April 2021)