Ajantha Mendis

Ajantha Mendis
Personal information
Full name
Balapuwaduge Ajantha Winslow Mendis
Born (1985-03-11) 11 March 1985 (age 39)
Moratuwa, Sri Lanka
Height5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
BattingRight-handed
BowlingRight-arm off spin
RoleBowler
International information
National side
Test debut (cap 109)23 July 2008 v India
Last Test24 July 2014 v South Africa
ODI debut (cap 134)10 April 2008 v West Indies
Last ODI26 December 2015 v New Zealand
ODI shirt no.40
T20I debut (cap 22)10 October 2008 v Zimbabwe
Last T20I27 May 2014 v England
T20I shirt no.40
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
2007–2019Wayamba
2006–2019Sri Lanka Army
2011Somerset
2008–2010Kolkata Knight Riders
2012Nagenahira Nagas
2013Pune Warriors
2014Lahore Qalandars
2014Sydney Thunder
2015Sylhet Super Stars
Career statistics
Competition Test ODI T20I FC
Matches 19 87 39 81
Runs scored 213 188 8 1,889
Batting average 16.38 8.17 2.66 17.99
100s/50s 0/1 0/0 0/0 1/7
Top score 78 21* 4* 101
Balls bowled 4,730 4,154 885 13,231
Wickets 70 152 66 307
Bowling average 34.77 21.86 14.42 23.28
5 wickets in innings 4 3 2 18
10 wickets in match 1 0 0 3
Best bowling 6/99 6/13 6/8 7/37
Catches/stumpings 2/– 15/– 6/– 25/–
Source: ESPNcricinfo, 26 December 2016
Ajantha Mendis
Born11 March 1985 –
Moratuwa
AllegianceSri Lanka Sri Lanka
Service / branchSri Lanka Army
Years of service2005 –
RankLieutenant
UnitSri Lanka Artillery

Balapuwaduge Ajantha Winslow Mendis (Sinhala: අජන්ත මෙන්ඩිස්; born 11 March 1985) better known as Ajantha Mendis is a Sri Lankan former international cricketer who played for Sri Lankan national cricket team in all three formats. He is also known as the "mystery spinner" due to the unusual bowling action variations. In August 2019, he retired from all forms of cricket.[1] Mendis was a member of the Sri Lankan team that won the 2014 ICC World Twenty20.

Mendis made his One Day International debut against the West Indies at Port of Spain in 2008 and took 3 for 39. He also played for the Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League. He holds the record for the fastest 50 wickets in ODIs with 19 matches.

His first Test Match was against India at Colombo on 23 July 2008 in which he returned match figures of 8–132, thereby becoming the first Sri Lankan bowler to get an eight-wicket haul on Test debut. Mendis won the Emerging Player of the Year award at the ICC Awards ceremony held in Dubai in September 2008.

Until February 2017, he was the only bowler to have taken six wickets in a Twenty20 International, and he has achieved the feat twice, claiming the world record figures of 6 wickets for 8 runs for Sri Lanka against Zimbabwe on 18 September 2012 which was later broken by Deepak Chahar in 2019 in a T20I against Bangladesh.[2] On 26 October 2012, Ajantha Mendis received the Sri Lankan order of Bantu, the highest civilian honour in Sri Lanka.

  1. ^ "Ajantha Mendis retires from all forms of cricket". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
  2. ^ "Records – Twenty20 matches – Bowling records – Best figures in an innings". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 4 January 2015.