Former Sri Lanka spinner Ajantha Mendis has announced his retirement from all forms of cricket at the age of 34.
The mystery spinner enjoyed one of the most explosive introductions to international cricket in 2008 with the Sri Lanka man going on to star in the Asia Cup final against India in the same year by returning with figures of 6-13.
Mendis still holds the record for the being the fastest to 50 ODI wickets (19 games) with his numerous variations including the ‘carrom-ball’ bamboozling plenty of international batsmen.
The spinner had a remarkable debut series in the Test format as well for Sri Lanka and picked up 26 wickets against India in just three clashes in the 2008 series at home. He remains the only bowler to have claimed a six-wicket haul twice in T20Is with the first of them coming against Australia in 2011 while the second was registered against Zimbabwe in the 2012 World T20.
Mendis claimed 6-13 in Sri Lanka’s 2008 Asia Cup final win over India.
Mendis’ meteoric rise, however, soon came to a grinding halt with the spinner’s mystery being worked out by batsmen in the age of modern video-analysis with his effectiveness dropping drastically with time.
Injuries played their part as well in hampering the Sri Lankan’s international career and he would not go on to make any more appearances after featuring in an ODI against West Indies in December, 2015.
Overall, Mendis has claimed a total of 70, 152 and 66 wickets in the 19 Test, 87 ODI and 39 T20I formats respectively for Sri Lanka.