Playing Mendis will be the ultimate test: Ranatunga

Former Sri Lanka captain Arjuna Ranatunga feels that facing Ajantha Mendis will be the “ultimate test” for the Indian batsmen.

Mendis baffled the Indian batting order who dominated most part of the recently-concluded Asia Cup with his blend of ‘mystery deliveries’. He picked up 6 wickets for 13 runs to humble the Indian batsmen thus helping his team retain the Asia Cup.

Speaking to a press conference in Mumbai, Mendis said that he has five different deliveries in his repertoire and is currently working on a sixth one, “Carom ball is not the only one. I have five different deliveries and am currently working on the sixth.”

The famed Indian batting quartet comprising of Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman who missed the Asia Cup will face Mendis for the first time in Sri Lanka and the tweaker already seems excited at the prospect of bowling to the Indian batsmen.

“It’s an honour to bowl alongside Murali (Muttiah Muralidaran) and to the top Indian batsmen like Rahul (Dravid), Sachin (Tendulkar), Sourav (Ganguly) and (VVS) Laxman” said Mendis who is already basking in the limelight without having played a single Test match.

However, Arjuna Ranatunga, the former Sri Lanka captain who successfully led Sri Lanka to its first and only win in the 1996 ICC World Cup, said, “The real game for him (Mendis) is just beginning. If he wants to fill the shoes of Muralidaran, then he has a long way to go. To get better, he has to stay in the team for as long as possible and learn from the master.”

Ranatunga also showered praises on the batting line-up of India saying, “Leaving the openers aside, I think India has the strongest batting line-up in the world. The batsmen from number three to six play spin better than other countries right now and they are certainly much better than the younger lot in this department.”

Mendis on the other hand seemed to have his plan in place for India and cited “putting the ball in the right place” as his primary aim for the Test series. Mendis added, “If I can do that I will be able to make an impact. But I have to mix my variation and not let the batsmen get used to it.”

Come Tuesday, Mendis may get his first feel of playing for the national side in Tests but he is no novice to the longest format of the game having played first-class cricket for 2 years where he has picked up 111 wickets from just 19 matches.

Ranatunga clearly has big plans for this spinner saying, “Mendis has the advantage of having Murali at the other side. He should not put pressure on himself. He might go through failures but importantly, like what we did to Murali, we should keep him going.”

He added about Sri Lanka’s latest spin offering, who seems to have taken the limelight from Muttiah Muralidaran, the highest Test wicket-taker in world cricket, saying, “It’s not kind to call anyone a freak but that’s what he is, a freak” adding “We are lucky to come across such cricketers once in ten years, the previous one being Murali.”

Sachin Tendulkar will go into the Sri Lanka series 171 runs behind Brian Lara’s world record aggregate of 11,953 Test runs but Mendis already seems to have a plan in place for the Master Blaster which he did not disclose. “I am not going to reveal the strategy on how I am going to bowl to Sachin” said Mendis.

Whether it’s for Mendis’ bowling or Tendulkar’s batting, the India-Sri Lanka series has all the makings of a great cricketing contest. The first Test of the three-Test and five-ODI series gets underway on July 23 at Colombo.