Kamindu Mendis

Kamindu Mendis is an ambidextrous cricketer who bowls left-arm spin and off-spin and is also a useful middle-order batsman. That isn’t enough to introduce Mendis as a cricketer, as he has a brilliant batter when it comes to playing the cross-batted strokes, also an accurate and potent spinner with both hands - which makes a complete upcoming package for Sri Lanka. 

Born in Galle, Kamidu and his brother Sandun have represented Sri Lanka in the Junior World Cup. The former, however, is a by-product of Richmond College, who captained Sri Lanka U-19 during the World Cup in 2018. He had an under-par tournament with the bat, as he could only score 113 runs off four innings at 37.66. 

In October that year, the former Sri Lanka U-19 captain was picked in the senior side for the one-off T20 against England. A half-century in the practise match before that England tour had helped him secure a place, and scored an impressive 24 at a strike of 171.42 during his team’s failed 188-run chase. 

The Galle-born has been on the fringes of both the ODI and T20I teams, since his debut, but hasn’t done anything worthwhile to cement his place. He played his last international match against the West Indies at North Sound in 2021, before getting sidelined for the Bangladesh series in March that year. 

In August 2021, the all-rounder was named as the vice-captain of the SLC Greens team for the SLC Invitational T20 League tournament. Mendis has showcased his prowess in that year’s domestic competitions, hinting that he is one for the future. 

(As of August 2021)