[Watch] When a Sri Lankan cricketer bowled with both arms during 1996 ODI World Cup
Sri Lankan spinner Kamindu Mendis demonstrated his ambidextrous talent during the first T20I against India at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium on Saturday, July 27. He bowled with both his left and right arm during the match.
India beat Sri Lanka by 43 runs in the first T20I in Pallekele. Batting first after losing the toss, the Men in Blue put up 213-7 on the board in the 20 overs. In the chase, Sri Lanka were well placed at 140-1 after 14 overs but crumbled to 170 in 19.2 overs, losing nine wickets for 30 runs.
While the Lankans fell short of the target in the end by quite some distance, Kamindu grabbed some eyeballs during the game courtesy of his ambidextrous skills. In the 10th over of India's innings, and his first of the match, the 25-year-old bowled left-arm spin to Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav. However, when left-handed Rishabh Pant was on strike in the same over, he switched to off-spin.
A Sri Lankan spinner bowling with both arms in an international match is, however, not a first. Back in 1996, during the ODI World Cup co-hosted by India, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan, Hashan Tillakaratne bowled with both arms during a match against Kenya in Kandy.
Watch the video below
The contest in mention is the same game in which Sri Lanka notched up 398-5 batting first as Aravinda de Silva slammed 145 off 115 balls. In the chase, Kenya were held to 254-7. With the result being a foregone conclusion, the Sri Lankan captain gave the last over to Tillakaratne. The part-timer was seen bowling both left-arm spin and off-spin during the over and enjoying the same.
Tillakaratne picked up only six wickets in his international career, all in the ODI format. He could also keep wickets when needed. The versatile cricketer represented the island nation in 83 Tests and 200 ODIs, scoring 4545 and 3789 runs, respectively. The former captain hit 11 hundreds and 20 fifties in Tests and two centuries and 13 half-centuries in one-dayers.
About Sri Lanka's ambidextrous bowler Kamindu Mendis
Kamindu is an all-rounder who has represented Sri Lanka in three Tests, seven ODIs, and 14 T20Is so far. He has scored 428 runs in Tests, with two hundreds and two fifties. With the ball, he has picked up three wickets.
In ODIs, he has 127 runs with one half-century and two wickets. As for his T20I record, Kamindu has 253 runs with a best of 65*, but is yet to take a wicket in the format.