Kusal Mendis’ coming of age innings!

After a good effort at restricting Australia to 203 and minimizing their first innings deficit as they were bundled out for 117 in the first innings, Sri Lanka’s second innings got off to a nightmarish start as they are reeling at 6/2 and staring at a batting collapse, even worse, an innings defeat, a pessimistic cloud of thought engulfs the Sri Lankan pavilion for they are well aware of Australia’s bowling prowess which complimented the conditions. In walked Kusal Mendis, a product of the finest youth cricket tournaments and yet, his first-class records are enough to convince people of his novice nature, evidently he’s a wicketkeeper first and a batsman later.

He walks in and is surrounded by towering personalities of Australian cricketers, it’s easy to get intimidated. Mendis at 21 years of age and playing only his 7th Test looked an easy target. First up he faces a riveting 150kph delivery from Mitchell Starc, he jabs at it late, the nerves are evident, the future of his innings is uncertain.

The combined spell of Starc and Josh Hazlewood spells trouble for the two batsmen on the crease Mendis and Kausal Silva. The two look out of sorts, Mendis builds on sneaking in ones and twos early on, his first boundary comes off an outside edge, he looks out of sorts, and not in control.

Yet, over the course of a few overs, Mendis begins to find a flow, his immaculate technique comes to his rescue and he even hits Starc for two consecutive fours. Silva’s dismissal spells further trouble for Sri Lanka and Angelo Mathews follows soon after and yet, it’s the 21-year-old Mendis who is holding the fort.

He finds reliable partners in Dinesh Chandimal and Dhananjaya de Silva who keep responsible company to Mendis as he takes the attack to the opposition. A seasoned advice would be to keep the shots grounded and avoid taking the aerial route. Mendis doesn’t do the seasoned, probably a result of his naivety and yet something which works immensely well for him on the designated day, his rash shots looked calculated enough and he played the field effectively as he managed to dissect the leg side field on multiple occasions when Steve Smith stationed more fielders there.

Mendis brought up his century in a Test which so far hadn’t witnessed a 50 plus score, that too with a six and we wonder if this a Virender Sehwag in the making, perhaps the only differentiating factor is that Mendis’ footwork is immaculate, precise and a treat to watch, unlike Sehwag!

His knock of 176 is a coming of age performance from the 21-year-old and augurs a potential run-machine for a team which has been struggling for good news for the past six months. His knock raised hopes for a potential turnaround in the match, if it does happen; it will be nothing short of a carnival for Sri Lanka will be beating Australia after 17 years in a Test match, and the event will undoubtedly be hailed as the resurgence of the team which is struggling to come to terms with the dual retirement of Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene.

Mendis here has eclipsed the likes of the above-mentioned greats for the highest score by a Sri Lankan against Australia in Sri Lanka. What went into the making of this bright prospect isn’t a glamorous affair for he is simply a newbie in the first-class format with the best score of 108 and 1212 runs at a meek average of 31.07.

He is one of the few batsmen who after being propelled into the international stage amidst scrutiny over his selection, has managed to hold his own despite the hullabaloo that is international cricket. He demonstrated his accustomed nature to international cricket as he scored 53 and 77 in two successive ODIs against England.

In 2014, Mendis was named Sri Lanka’s School boy cricketer of the year, a match-defining knock against the top Test opposition in the world and it seems like he has found the limelight on merit basis. The seeming surety of Mendis’ strokes against the likes of Starc, Lyon and Hazlewood demonstrate his potential for the future. His dismissal came at a time when the Sri Lankan pavilion was in a happy space as he edged one to the wicketkeeper. A rather soft dismissal for a great innings and yet, Mendis had done his job and the onus shifted onto Rangana Herath who propelled Sri Lanka past the 300-run mark.

Following his innings of prominence in the international arena, Kusal Mendis was heaped with praises on social media, most notably Kumar Sangakkara adjudging him his rightful successor. Now the bright prospect needs stability and a grounded head to continue on the solid foundation he has laid for himself.