Sri Lanka’s Kamindu Mendis joined the elite company of the likes of the great Sunil Gavaskar after the batter notched yet another fifty-plus score in his outing for Sri Lanka against New Zealand on Thursday.
Sri Lanka’s Kamindu Mendis scored a brilliant century in the ongoing first Test against New Zealand in Galle. It marked the fourth hundred for Mendis in the longest format of the game.
He made his debut in the red-ball cricket in July 2022, featuring in a home Test against Australia. Since then, Mendis has registered a fifty-plus score in each of his seven Test outings. Before him, only Pakistan’s Saud Shakeel managed to achieve this exceptional feat in international cricket.
Four batters– India’s Sunil Gavaskar, Pakistan’s Saeed Ahmed, West Indies’ Basil Butcher and New Zealand’s Bert Sutcliffe– have a record of hitting half-centuries in their first six games.
Kamindu Mendis has become the quickest Sri Lankan batter to score four Test hundreds. He achieved the milestone in just 11 innings. The previous record was held by Michael Vandort, who scored four centuries in 21 Test innings. Mendis made his maiden Test appearance in Galle and scored 61 runs off 137 balls in the first innings against Australia. He hit twin centuries in the first Test of the Bangladesh tour before registering another one against England in Manchester.
Kamindu Mendis must be credited for reviving Sri Lanka’s innings in the ongoing Test against New Zealand. The hosts were three down having scored 88 at Tea on the opening day of the fixture. Mendis then revived the innings with Kushal Mendis as the duo stitched a 103-run partnership. Kushal completed his half-century off 68 balls but failed to continue further.
Kamindu Mendis had held the wicket at one end but fell short of support. He scored 114 runs off 173 deliveries before falling victim to Ajaz Patel in the penultimate over of the day. Mendis’ gritty knock comprised as many as 11 boundaries. Sri Lanka wrapped up their first innings at 305 runs.
After the end of Day 1, Kamindu Mendis revealed that his team wanted to produce a 350-plus score. About his inning-reviving century, the 25-year-old said, as per NDTV, “It’s a special hundred this one, as this came in my hometown. I should have gone on to get a big one, but I couldn’t do much about that ball.”
William O’Rourke was the star bowler for New Zealand. The 23-year-old registered a five-wicket haul conceding 55 runs in 19.5 overs. Among the other Kiwi bowlers, Glenn Phillips and Ajaz Patel picked up two scalps each.
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