Mendis airs confidence ahead of Champions Trophy
Twenty-two year old Kusal Mendis, in the grove of Sri Lanka’s new batting star in the making, did raise home fan expectancy in a chat with me on the eve of departure to England for the 2017 Champions Trophy. The young batting spark, who arrived on the international scene with a bang last year on the back of a rollicking match and series winning century against Australia last year, said, “I have worked hard on my game, and believe I’m well equipped to deliver with the bat in the all important Champions Trophy.” Mendis, a product from Moratuwa, who braved the odds of financial constraints as a kid who launched his cricket career on the sweat and toil of his father’s earnings from the carpentry profession, is a discovery from Sri Lanka Cricket’s (SLC) ambitious youth cricket drive.
Mendis made a pleasing entry in to big time cricket against a highly resurgent professional England side with two ODI half centuries in the wake of a half century on his test debut in a second innings total of 119.
A discovery from Sri Lanka Cricket’s (SLC) ambition youth cricket drive that saw Mendis make a mark in the Sri Lanka Under-19 team, the product from Moratuwa was quick to signal his arrival as a future star in the wake of the retirements of senior batsmen when he smashed a swashbuckling 176 against Australia in a home Test match last year. It proved to be a match and series winning knock.
Mendis was quick to showcase his ability as a gifted stroke maker from the Sri Lanka Under-19 level. The product from Moratuwa was quick to signal his arrival as a future star in the wake of the retirements of senior batsmen when he smashed a swashbuckling 176 against Australia in a home Test match last year. It proved to be a match and series winning knock. Mendis’ 176 against Australia in the first Test match was hailed by experts of one of authority, and SLC has taken every endeavour to give the youngster the necessary expert guidance to raise his game.
Meanwhile, Team Manager and Cricket Manager, Asanka Gurusinha said that he had worked on strengthening the loopholes in Mendis’ batting. Opposing teams have been hard on undoing the youngster based on his video footage. I have spoken to him and addressed that area of coping with bowlers,” said the former Sri Lanka pivotal No.3 batsman who has now stepped in to fine tune young batsmen in the national team. Gurusinha stressed that the need was to give youngsters the type of moral support that would be a lending tonic to sharpening their game on the international stage.
“These players are talented and possess the ability to perform, but they lack the depth of coping with experienced opposition. As such, I have been working on conditioning these players to display the desired moral courage to deal with quality opposition teams that have been in the game consistently long,” he said. He further opined that Dinesh Chandimal had of late sharpened his game to playing innings to set up the right foundation for the team to build on. This was an important factor in showing the way at the top of the order for the rest of the batsmen to capitalize on.
From the home Bangladesh tour, Chandimal has indeed raised his game temperament-wise having reeled some century knocks which form he extended to the domestic provincial tournament in piloting Colombo to the championship title. His consistency with the bat has been a buoying factor to Sri Lanka’s hopes going in to the Champions Trophy that unfolds in England on June 1.
By Srian Obeyesekere
-The opinions expressed here are the views of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Sri Lanka Cricket-