Ajantha Mendis

Balapuwaduge Ajantha Winslow Mendis (Sinhala: අජන්ත මෙන්ඩිස්; born 11 March 1985) better known as Ajantha Mendis, is a Sri Lankan former international cricketer who played for the Sri Lankan national cricket team in all three formats. He is also known as the "mystery spinner" due to his unusual variations in bowling action. In August 2019, he retired from all forms of cricket. Mendis was a member of the Sri Lankan team that won the 2014 ICC World Twenty20. Mendis made his One Day International debut against the West Indies at Port of Spain in 2008 and took 3 for 39. He also played for the Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League. He holds the record for the fastest 50 wickets in ODIs, with 19 matches. His first Test Match was against India at Colombo on 23 July 2008, in which he returned match figures of 8–132, thereby becoming the first Sri Lankan bowler to get an eight-wicket haul on Test debut. Mendis won the Emerging Player of the Year award at the ICC Awards ceremony held in Dubai in September 2008. Until February 2017, he was the only bowler to have taken six wickets in a Twenty20 International, and he has achieved the feat twice, claiming the world record figures of 6 wickets for 8 runs for Sri Lanka against Zimbabwe on 18 September 2012 which were later broken by Deepak Chahar in 2019 in a T20I against Bangladesh.