Sri Lankan all-rounder Kamindu Mendis is truly a standout. There are some cricketers on the cricket field who surprise everyone with their unique skills. Kamindu is one of them. He can bowl equally well with both hands. He also performs well as a left-handed batsman. Such a cricketer has created a different history in his first match on a big stage like the IPL.
He bowled with both hands on his IPL debut against Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens. This is the first time in the history of the IPL that any bowler has bowled with both hands. In the 13th over, he bowled three balls with his right hand and three balls with his left hand. It is very rare to see such skills. Not only that, he also dismissed the opposing batter, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, on the fourth ball of the over, where Harshal Patel took the catch. In this way, the 26-year-old all-rounder made his debut memorable in the match.
However, Kamindu did not win on the day of this feat. His team Sunrisers Hyderabad lost to Kolkata by 80 runs. He scored the second highest 27 runs for the team with the bat. But even though the team lost, Kamindu has become the center of discussion with his unique skills.
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Kamindu has been in the habit of bowling with both hands since childhood. He first showed this skill while participating in the Under-19 World Cup held in Bangladesh in 2016. After that, he used this technique in the national team as well. He has also bowled with both hands against batters like India’s Suryakumar Yadav and Rishabh Pant.
However, he is not the first in international cricket to bowl with both hands. A few have achieved this feat before. Former Bangladesh women’s team coach Hasan Tillakaratne bowled with both hands for Sri Lanka against Kenya in the 1996 World Cup. Going back even further in history, it can be seen that Pakistan’s Mohammad Hanif bowled with both hands against the West Indies in 1958. In that match, Caribbean legend Garry Sobers played an unbeaten inning of 365 runs, which was the highest in Test cricket for a long time.
Thus, Kamindu Mendis’ feat has made a special place not only in the IPL, but also in cricket history. It is expected that his skills will shine even more on bigger stages in the future.
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