Prodigy Batting

Prodigy Batting

It is of course premature to expect Mendis to have the same impact as Murali, but there is no doubt that he is a truly exciting prospect. A spinner without a stock ball who can bowl at medium pace but still turn the ball, Mendis is very hard to classify. He is a finger spinner but can turn the ball like a wrist spinner and is deadly accurate. A fine mix of attributes and the success he has enjoyed in his fledgling career suggests there are many more wickets to come.

Mendis is 23 years old, young for a spinner on the international stage but old enough not to be a youthful prodigy. He has played only 19 first class matches (in which he has claimed 111 wickets) but is already part of Sri Lanka's first choice One Day line-up. A Test call-up cannot be far away and there is no reason to think that he cannot succeed in the toughest form of the game.

The key to his success is variation. Finger spinners usually rotate the ball between their thumb and index finger, providing a small amount of turn from offside to legside. Until Saqlain Mushtaq developed a 'doosra', which turned from leg to off, finger spinners were one dimensional and easier to play than accurate leg spinners.

Mendis has an unusual grip, which sees him release the ball with a flick of the fingers out the front of the hand. Some balls go straight on, others turn to leg or to off and some hurry though low and at speed. In other words he bowls a mixture of offbreaks, legbreaks, arm balls and googlies. Confused? The batsmen who face him certainly are, not least because the bowler himself appears not to what is coming next.

This is not to doubt Mendis' skill or ability to outwit batsmen. He of course knows how to harness his variations; it is just the extent of turn that might be a mystery. He has therefore been dubbed a 'mystery spinner' and his biggest challenge will be maintaining his secrecy as batsmen face him more.

The youngster seems up to that challenge. He retained his poise and accuracy when brought into the attack in the 10th over of India's innings in the Asia cup final, when the fielding restrictions were still in force. Virender Sehwag was in the midst of a typical top order assault, but Mendis dismissed him with his second ball and never looked back.

Final figures of six for 13 off eight overs marked his arrival on the international stage. He was quietly successful in the West Indies earlier in the year but in decimating the world's best batting line-up - who admitted afterwards that they were helpless in reading his deliveries - Mendis has announced himself as a future star.

If Mendis is included in Sri Lanka's squad for the forthcoming Test series with India, his team might become favourites. Sri Lankan wickets take turn and he obviously knows how to take wickets in these familiar conditions. His emergence might just persuade Murali to give up on his charge to 1,000 Test wickets a little earlier than he planned.