Naman Garg
Mendis hits his fifth Test century for Sri Lanka during the second Test match against New Zealand at the Galle International Stadium. This is his second ton of the series, and third 50+ score in as many innings.
Mendis completed the landmark in 147 balls and steered Sri Lanka past 400 runs. He also brought up a 100-run partnership along with Angelo Mathews in 125 balls for the fourth wicket in the first session of Day 2. Earlier in the innings, Sri Lankan wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Chandimal also scored a hundred before being dismissed for 116 off 208 balls.The main strength with Mendis batting is that his technique looks very sound and he also knows how to handle pressure by making runs in difficult situation which he prove so far. He do batting with proactive mind neither too attacking nor too defensive which helps him to build long innings.
With his fifth Test ton, Mendis equalled Don Bradman in reaching the landmark in 13 Test innings. Everton Weekes (10), Herbert Sutcliffe (12) and Neil Harvey (12) are ahead of them in the all-time list. Mendis thus became the fastest from Asia to reach five Test centuries. The next best is Pakistan’s Fawad Alam, with five in 22 innings.
In the first Test against New Zealand, Mendis forced his way up to No. 5 from No. 7 after a promising start to his Test career. He top-scored in the first innings with a knock of 114 off 173, guiding Sri Lanka to a total of 305 on a fighting track to repay the faith of the management. His contribution proved to be crucial as the hosts went on to win the match by 63 runs.
Mendis made his debut in July 2022 against Australia and helped Sri Lanka script a famous win with a valuable hand of 61. After a wait of almost two years, his second Test came in March against Bangladesh in Sylhet where he scored twin hundreds (102 and 164), becoming only the seventh Sri Lankan to achieve the feat. His 164 is the fourth-highest score by a No. 8 batter in Test cricket. He has registered scores of over fifty in an innings in every match since his comeback to the team in March. He also on course to be among the fastest to 1,000 Test runs: while he won’t be able to break the record set by Herbert Sutcliffe and Everton Weekes (12 innings), he could equal Don Bradman (13 innings) if he scores 178 in the first innings of the Galle Test.
