Much was spoken about Ajantha Mendis, son of former Sri Lanka cricket Captain, Duleep Mendis before he could make an international test debut. A.Mendis, unlike his father has chosen to be a bowler rather being a batsman and has already hogged limelight in the internation cricket arena both in One Day International and in Test cricket. Indians who have built a reputation of playing spin bowlers better than their fast bowling colleagues have so far been dancing Mendis' tunes.
Mendis broke the top and middle order of the Indian batting line up in the Asia Cup final, and that too when Sehwag was going great guns blazing every ball all around the park. In fact Mendis castled Sehwag in the very first ball, which was a quicker one. There has been no turning back for this young spinner who is still continuing to torment the Indians in the on going Idea test series.
The trick to Mendis' spin lies in the way he holds the cricket ball. Traditionally spinners have used their wrist to do leg spin and fingers to create off spin. It is this theory with which batsman look out for the way in which any bowler releases the cricket ball. But Mendis holds the ball and gives a push as if, he is flicking a carrom striker. With the same arm action, he creates leg spin as well as off spin, which keeps the batsman guessing.
Also his run upto the crease, which makes the batsman to think as to what pace the ball is going to be bowled at them. Looking at his run up, it would be anybody's guess that the ball would reach the batsman at a pace close to 100 Kph. But it is his deceptive speed and skid that does all the trick. The ball apparently reaches the batsman at 80-85 Kph which creates so much of confusion in the batsman's mind as to whether to go forward and play it on the front foot or take a foot back and play it on the back foot. But at times, the ball reaches the batsman at 100 Kph. Quite often, it is this confusion that traps most of the batsman right in front or leave the line of the ball. The dismissal of Laxman in the second inninigs of the second test at Galle exactly happened in this fashion. He was in 2 minds as to how to play the ball, which was bowled at a pace closer to 100 Kph.
The line Mendis bowls is also impeccable. When a seasoned bowler like Harbhajan Singh is spraying the ball outside the leg stump, creating problems for the wicket keeper, Mendis bowls wicket to wicket, which gives little room for the batsman to freeze arms. In this small battle against Indians, Mendis has been greatly successful. That too against a batting line up, which has won famous test cricket victories.
But Mendis has to be a bit careful while playing on spinner unfriendly pitches. This kind of carrom coin flicking action might not work everywhere. Batsman can come down the wicket and can negotiate the spin very successfully. It now remains to see, as to how he scales his bowling, while playing against great teams like Australia and South Africa outside the sub-continent.
Mendis broke the top and middle order of the Indian batting line up in the Asia Cup final, and that too when Sehwag was going great guns blazing every ball all around the park. In fact Mendis castled Sehwag in the very first ball, which was a quicker one. There has been no turning back for this young spinner who is still continuing to torment the Indians in the on going Idea test series.
The trick to Mendis' spin lies in the way he holds the cricket ball. Traditionally spinners have used their wrist to do leg spin and fingers to create off spin. It is this theory with which batsman look out for the way in which any bowler releases the cricket ball. But Mendis holds the ball and gives a push as if, he is flicking a carrom striker. With the same arm action, he creates leg spin as well as off spin, which keeps the batsman guessing.
Also his run upto the crease, which makes the batsman to think as to what pace the ball is going to be bowled at them. Looking at his run up, it would be anybody's guess that the ball would reach the batsman at a pace close to 100 Kph. But it is his deceptive speed and skid that does all the trick. The ball apparently reaches the batsman at 80-85 Kph which creates so much of confusion in the batsman's mind as to whether to go forward and play it on the front foot or take a foot back and play it on the back foot. But at times, the ball reaches the batsman at 100 Kph. Quite often, it is this confusion that traps most of the batsman right in front or leave the line of the ball. The dismissal of Laxman in the second inninigs of the second test at Galle exactly happened in this fashion. He was in 2 minds as to how to play the ball, which was bowled at a pace closer to 100 Kph.
The line Mendis bowls is also impeccable. When a seasoned bowler like Harbhajan Singh is spraying the ball outside the leg stump, creating problems for the wicket keeper, Mendis bowls wicket to wicket, which gives little room for the batsman to freeze arms. In this small battle against Indians, Mendis has been greatly successful. That too against a batting line up, which has won famous test cricket victories.
But Mendis has to be a bit careful while playing on spinner unfriendly pitches. This kind of carrom coin flicking action might not work everywhere. Batsman can come down the wicket and can negotiate the spin very successfully. It now remains to see, as to how he scales his bowling, while playing against great teams like Australia and South Africa outside the sub-continent.
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