Kamindu Mendis smashes 3rd Test century against England

Kamindu Mendis scored a scintillating century on day four of the 1st Test match between England and Bangladesh at the Old Trafford Stadium in Manchester on August 24, Saturday. 

Mendis has started off his career for Sri Lanka on a great note as he promises to be a bright prospect for the island nation’s team. 

This was his third Test hundred in only his fourth outing for Sri Lanka. Kamindu also joined an elite list of Asian batters with this memorable knock. He became only the seventh Asian batter to score a hundred while batting at 7 or below on English soil. 

The list included the likes of Sandeep Patil, Rishabh Pant, Anil Kumble, Kapil Dev, Ajit Agarkar and Ravindra Jadeja.

Kamindu fought his way to get a significant amount of lead for his team and reached the 100-figure mark within 167 balls. He played a gritty innings and looked completely unflustured and got the team out of a tough position. 

Kamindu walked out to bat after the dismissal of captain Dhananjaya de Silva in the 26th over. He came in a precarious situation when Sri Lanka were reeling at 95 for four. He started building a partnership with Angelo Mathews. 

They pushed the lead towards a three-figure mark as England bowlers seemed tired during the last hours of day three play. Luck also favoured Mendis and Mathews as their catches were dropped on Matthew Potts’ deliveries. However, Chris Woakes broke their 78-run stand.

He brought up his third Test fifty in style with a four off Chris Woakes’ delivery. Afterwards, he was joined by Dinesh Chandimal, who returned to the field after getting retired hurt due to thumb injury. 

The duo ended the day three with a slender lead of 82 runs and started off day four on a positive note and also benefitted from Mark Wood’s absence, who sustained a right thigh muscle injury.

The Sri Lankan batters dominated the first session of the day four as they added over 100 runs to their overnight score.

Source: India Today

--Agencies