තරන්ග 2018 බන්ගලා දේශයේදී පැවති තුන්කොන් – එක්දින තරග 5 යුත්- තරගමාලාවේදී, උඩ පන්ඳු 7 ක් රැකගැනීමෙන්, ශ්‍රී ලන්කා උඩ පන්ඳු රැකීමේ 20 වසක් පැරනි මහානමගේ වාර්තාව සමකිර්‍රීමෙන්, නිකරුනේ ඇද සොයන අඳ විචාරකයන්ට පිලිතුරුදී ඇත! සැම අන්ශයෙන්ම පසුගිය වසර 3න තුල මෙතරම් ප්‍රගතියක් පෙන්වූ ක්‍රිඩකයෙක් ලන්කවේ නොමැත.!! බලන්න අග්‍ර ගනයේ මේ සුපිරි පන්ඳු රැකීම…. කලාතුරකින් අතපසු වීම් තරන්ගටත් පොදුයි. එය හෙලා දැකිය යුතු දෙයක්ද?

https://youtu.be/oJDUURdwmqg?t=48

In 2018 only series won achieved by SL (Triangular series in BD), apart from the series winning batting contribution in the final (receiving MoM award for that effort), Upul Tharanga had also equaled (Manama’s record) SL ODI record for CATCHING by taking the highest number of 7 CATCHES in a 5-ODI series in SL history.! and also equaled highest number of 3 catches in an inning record too.

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/records/fielding/most_catches_series.html?class=2;id=8;type=team

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/records/fielding/most_catches_innings.html?class=2;id=8;type=team

This is a good answer to humbug critics who always try to find some slightest rare glitch/ mishap (common to even world’s best players specialized in those departments ) to unfairly magnify and criticize forever to fabricate wrong impressions about this guy.

I can tell you one thing, there is no other SL cricketer improved in fielding & batting than Upul Tharanga during past 3 year.! This is an undeniable factual statement proved in the middle. Take a look at this.!
https://youtu.be/oJDUURdwmqg?t=48

This is the perfect answer for humbug critics who always try to find some slightest rare glitch/ mishap (common to even world’s best players specialized in those departments ) to unfairly magnify and criticize forever to fabricate wrong impressions about this guy.

I can tell you one thing, there is no other SL cricketer improved in fielding & batting than Upul Tharanga during past 3 year.! This is an undeniable factual statement proved in the middle.

ටෙස්ට් ක්‍රිකට් සඳහාම උපන් ප්‍රතිභාවක් ඇති දක්ශයෙක් බව අවිවාදයෙන් පිලිගන්නා විචාරකයන් ගේ නිරතුරු ප්‍රශ්නාර්තය, තම සීමිත-ඕවර් හැකියාව පිලිබඳව බව කයිවාරු ගසන මෙන්ඩිස්ට අමතකද​?

විචාරකයන් ගේ සාධක සහිතව ඔප්පුවී ඇති… රටම දැවෙන ප්‍රශ්නයක්, ටෙස්ට් ඉනිමකින් දෙකකින් විසඳිය නොහැකි බව තේරුම් නොගැනීමට තරම් අවු 24 ළදරු වියක් හෝ අඳබාලයෙක් විය නොහේ!

ප්‍රේක්ශක දැනුම තක්සේරු කිරීමට ප්‍රතම මෙන්ඩිස් තම කෙරුවාව සහ ළන්කාවට මෙතෙක් වී ඇති ODI හානිය මැන්නාන්ම් කයිවාරුවට වඩා හොඳයි නේද​?

https://www.islandcricket.lk/blogs/how-disastrous-persuing-kusal-mend-in-odi-cricket/

The major problem with some mono-focal SL fans & the responsible think-tanks is… they all deeply lacking the overall analytical view to judge reality.

Someone here even pointing out KJP’s failure in limited over cricket in initial 3+ yrs to justify Mendis saga. KJP’s ODI saga slotting him to Open extended over 3 yrs is typical example for the above mentioned horrible weakness in decision makers (virtually halting just then 5k+ runs topped 2nd quickest SL player UT’s prime career @ 28 yrs & if those 3 yrs were not scrapped off from his career- today he would have topped 10,000 odi runs with 20+ Hundreds today… considering the amount of matches he missed, come close to 1/3 of his career innings at that point).

Since mid 2014, it took almost 3 yrs and 50+ odis & many lost series including 2015WC hopes, for those at top to realize the futility of having KJP as Opener.
Ultimately KJP ended up totally dooming 50% of his (50+) innings as ODI Opener in single-digit scores mostly lasted under 10 balls – wasting 27 innings – to collect astonishingly low 105 runs @ 3.88 Av – 51 SR , while Upul was dumped in the bin virtually without giving any decent international opportunity over 3 yrs, other than a very few solitary matches randomized over 3 yrs until 2017 regular spot, where he topped 1k runs within the year, only behind Kohli & Sharma.

I have pointed this absurdity in Cricinfo during late 2014, but it took 3 yrs for those top-nuts to realize that in the hardest way possible :))) Today KJP is doing well in the middle order, not as Opener in any format.!

@mega turbo – FYI, repeated posts & comments off beyond my control…. probably due to technical issue. What’s the point comparing the CAREER STATS in an entirely different era over 3 decades distant past ?

Here is the real comparison of some ordinary batters who made their debut in this decade & at 5yrs or less of their ODI careers (leaving the exceptional batters like Kohli -50+ Av, Jo Root -50+ etc) .

So where is this so called “prodigy” Kusal Mendis (55 odis @ 26 Av) stands in relative terms in this highly competitive & high-performance-productivity demanding fast-paced era seen in this decade?

SL simply cannot afford to waste more ODI matches on him expecting miracles, when clearly there are potentially better youngsters (ie: Avishka Fernando, Kamindu Mendis etc) knocking at the door:

Niroshan Dickwella – 35 Av (25 yrs)
Travis Head – 34 Av (25 yrs)
Soumya Sarkar- 34 Av (25 yrs)
Henry Nicholls – 36 Av (27 yrs)
Jonny Bairstow – 48 Av (29 yrs)
Jos Buttler – 38 Av (28 yrs)
Rohit Sharma – 33 Av
Shikhar Dhawan – 43 Av
Ambati Rayudu – 50 Av

@Kalof : Yes of course partially blind people like Kalof, stormy etc. always ready to deny the naked truth highlighted with hard evidence (in the form of undeniable performance stats in the middle) pumping life to their near & dear inert dummies, bloating up to star class .

I have nothing personal against any player & already acknowledged Mendis’ true potential/class in Test arena. But i’m not blind to have eternally long unrealistic expectations of transforming him to an ODI star and waste any more chances of others on such a failure. Such wrong-footed wasteful Investments made on Thirimanne & Chandimal (in ODIs) are two living examples seen today.

They can only blame & accuse all who accept the obvious reality over hopeless expectations, spanned over unlimited time . We make constructive criticism hoping for an end to the internal chances wasted on such incapable dummies, purely for the sake of terminally ill SL ODI cricket.

Endlessly expecting miracles to materialize on blind faith & trying to convince others with hollow speculations nowhere near reality would only expedite the journey of SL cricket to the grave yard. Selectively trying to push the reality convinced over three years under the carpet & asking to extend that wasteful crime of ruining the chances of much more potentially capable guys knocking at the door….? just to accommodate an already tried & classified ODI failure like Kusal Mendis is a mega crime.!

Whether you like it or not, this is the absolute truth proven solidly over past 3 yrs , costing 50+ ODIs to SL.

People who still blindly support this destructive act of nuts (sans grey-matter), at the helm of decision making in SL cricket are directly responsible for the current sorry-state of our limited over cricket ..!!!

@Kalof : Yes of course partially blind people like Kalof, stormy etc. always ready to deny the naked truth highlighted with hard evidence (in the form of undeniable performance stats in the middle) pumping life to their near & dear inert dummies, bloating up to star class .

I have nothing personal against any player & already acknowledged Mendis’ true potential/class in Test arena. But i’m not blind to have eternally long unrealistic expectations of transforming him to an ODI star and waste any more chances of others on such a failure (Such wrong-footed wasteful Investments made on Thirimanne & Chandimal are two living examples seen today).

They can only blame & accuse all who accept the obvious reality over hopeless expectations, spanned over unlimited time . We make constructive criticism hoping for an end to the internal chances wasted on such incapable dummies, purely for the sake of terminally ill SL ODI cricket.

Endlessly expecting miracles to materialize on blind faith & trying to convince others with hollow speculations nowhere near reality would only expedite the journey of SL cricket to the grave yard. Selectively trying to push the reality convinced over three years under the carpet & asking to extend that wasteful crime of ruining the chances of much more potentially capable guys knocking at the door….? just to accommodate an already tried & classified ODI failure like Kusal Mendis is a mega crime.!

Whether you like it or not, this is the absolute truth proven solidly over past 3 yrs , costing 50+ ODIs to SL.

People who still blindly support this destructive act of nuts (sans grey-matter), at the helm of decision making in SL cricket are directly responsible for the current sorry-state of our limited over cricket ..!!!

@Kalof : Yes of course partially blind people like Kalof, stormy etc. always ready to deny the naked truth highlighted with hard evidence (in the form of undeniable performance stats in the middle) pumping life to their near & dear inert dummies, bloating up to star class . I have nothing personal against any player & already acknowledged Mendis’ true potential/class in Test arena. But i’m not blind to have eternally long unrealistic expectations of transforming him to an ODI star and waste any more chances of others on such a failure (Such wrong-footed wasteful Investments made on Thirimanne & Chandimal are two living examples seen today).

They can only blame & accuse all who accept the obvious reality over hopeless expectations, spanned over unlimited time . We make constructive criticism hoping for an end to the internal chances wasted on such incapable dummies, purely for the sake of terminally ill SL ODI cricket.

Endlessly expecting miracles to materialize on blind faith & trying to convince others with hollow speculations nowhere near reality would only expedite the journey of SL cricket to the grave yard. Selectively trying to push the reality convinced over three years under the carpet & asking to extend that wasteful crime of ruining the chances of much more potentially capable guys knocking at the door….? just to accommodate an already tried & classified ODI failure like Kusal Mendis is a mega crime.!

Whether you like it or not, this is the absolute truth proven solidly over past 3 yrs , costing 50+ ODIs to SL.

People who still blindly support this destructive act of nuts (sans grey-matter), at the helm of decision making in SL cricket are directly responsible for the current sorry-state of our limited over cricket ..!!!

No matter how long you live with unrealistic expectations & hopes .. Can we expect a turtle with a hard shell to withstand brutal hammering & patiently reach a winning goal spending plenty of time … to develop wings to fly quickly at some point, enabling it to win a Horse Race? LoL

By the way Kusal Mendis had played the most number of matches in each format among all SL players during past 2 years in international cricket, naturally enhancing his chances of gathering more runs in Test cricket in 2018, than the rest like Dimuth Karunarathne.

Daniel — Your article heading needs a big correction…as “How good is Kusal Mendis in TEST Cricket?

Otherwise it becomes meaningless article heading . No one can deny the fact that Mendis is naturally gifted to play longer version of the game adjusting well to it’s demands. But that doesn’t mean he can become a good ODI batter as well (as already proven with costly 50+ matches wasted on him bringing total disaster & contributing massively to the decline of ODI standard in past 2+ yrs).

Kusal Mendis had played 57 ODIs @ pathetic 26 Av – showing further decline in ODIs, unable to cope-up with the demands of shorter version, against stronger opponents (in 2018 – 16 Av/ in 2019 – 12 Av) . Kusal Mendis’ last 17 ODI innings yielded sorrily 268 runs @ 15 Av for poor SL – heavily contributing to the defeats against Eng/ SA/ NZ / & BD/Afganistan ensuring instant exit from Asia bringing continuing misery to ODI side with the adorable COURTESY of his angel Coach Hathurusinghe .!

There were/are many other classic Test batters similar to him (Ie: Dimuth, Chandimal, Thilan Samaraweera etc. ) seen in the past & present with limited talent & skills specifically suited just for Test cricket. They never blossomed in ODIs & would have been much better off, if they had confined their entire careers focusing only on Test cricket, when found-out their total failure in limited-overs arena . Persisting with such players, expecting to cross over the line at some point out of their naturally gifted scope had never ever worked out, as evident from history.

A batter with good temperament & exceptional ability to play longer innings doesn’t mean that he is a readily available ingredient to mold a hero in fast-paced arena as well. Most of such will never become successful limited over guys as already proven with many cases in history ( ie: Thilan Samaraweera 50+ Odis @ 27 Av – SR 60s / this decade’s fast-paced era debuted Chandimal, even after playing 146 ODIs over Nine years, could NOT Improve his match dwindling Strike Rates – 59 in 2017 /SR 76 in 2018 / SR 43 in 2019… became a huge bottle-neck to the ODI team in most doomed matches – costing heavily for SL).

Let this guy Kusal Mendis confined to Test Cricket only along with Chandimal (as Dimuth) . If the authorities are brainy enough, that way you can avoid this youngster’s inconsistency reflected in his Test cricket today… obviously due to his unending string of miserable failures in ODI cricket. If you want to protect this guy from breaking down totally, that is the essential must need to be done right now to get the maximum out of his born talent. !