Jeevan Mendis

Balapuwaduge Manukulasuriya Amith Jeevan Mendis is a leg-spinning all-rounder, who has won his place in the national squad with strong performances in First-Class cricket. The talent was clear since his school days, where he won several awards, including the Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year in 2001 and Man of the Series award in the Under-17 Asia Cup during the same year. He continued to impress in the Under-19 World Cup in New Zealand, where he picked up a record 7 for 19 against Zimbabwe.

He played for Sinhalese Sports Club in Sri Lanka's domestic circuit and though, he was consistent with the bat, he rarely got a chance to show his all-round skills. The switch to Tamil Union in 2008 turned out to be a turning point for him, as he was given ample opportunities to impress with the ball. He starred with both bat and ball to help Tamil Union become the limited overs champion. He scored 450 runs and took 26 wickets in the tournament, where he won the Man of the Finals and the Man of the Tournament awards. He followed it up with a stellar show in the Premier League, scoring 600 runs and taking 36 wickets to become the Man-of-the-Tournament once again. He was rewarded with a call-up to the Sri Lanka 'A' team to face Canada and Holland.

He was then picked in the ODI squad for the triangular series, involving India and Zimbabwe in Zimbabwe. Though he didn't get to bat on his debut, he impressed with the ball, picking up two wickets for 12 runs from four overs. He missed out on a World Cup berth as Sri Lanka had abundant spin resources in Muttiah Muralitharan, Ajantha Mendis and Rangana Herath, but returned to the ODI squad for the tour to England post the retirement of the legendary, Muralitharan. Mendis usually bats in the top-order for his domestic teams, but the presence of senior players like Sangakkara and Jayawardene left him with no option, but to play in the middle-order.

Mendis proved his worth in T20Is when he cracked a breezy 43 not out in the 2012 World T20 in Sri Lanka. He also delivered some tidy spells with the ball in Sri Lanka's run to the final. The upshot was that Delhi and the Sydney Sixers hired his services for their T20 campaigns. Additionally, he has represented the Dhaka Dynamites in Bangladesh's NCL T20 Cup.

Unfortunately, Mendis could not sustain the intensity, as a result of which he was in and out of the national team. The rapid rise of fellow allrounders - Thisara Perera, Angelo Mathews and Sachitra Senanayake - put him on the back burners. However, Jeevan kept churning out commendable performances in the Dhaka Premier Division matches.

After playing a few ODIs in 2013, Jeevan was recalled to the side for the England games. He was subsequently included in the side for the 2014-15 New Zealand tour as well. His talent and reputation as an all-rounder ensured that he was in the periphery of the selectors right through to the 2015 World Cup Down Under, with sporadic appearances in the national colours. 

After nearly three years in the wilderness, in a surprise move, the selectors brought him back into the national side in February 2018 for the T20I series versus Bangladesh, and he churned out decent performances with both bat and ball. He further took this form into the Mzanzi Super League for the Tshwane Spartans where he ended up as the joint highest wicket-taker with 16 scalps to his name.

In the domestic 2018-19 Premier League tournament, he took picked up a nine-wicket-haul in an innings, which turned out to be the best bowling figures of that season. Soon after, he made it to Sri Lanka's 2019 50-over World Cup squad.

Currently at the twilight of his career and at an age of 37, it seems unlikely that Mendis will get another national opportunity, but he continues to be a globetrotter with the various mushrooming T20 leagues.