5 Unfulfilled talents of the 21st century

2. Ajantha Mendis

He started off as the ultimate ‘mystery’ man who could bowl the leg-break, off-break, carrom ball, flipper, top-spinner with death-defying ease. And, India experienced it first hand when Ajantha Mendis made a debut in the 2008 Asia Cup where he bamboozled their famed batting-unit with figures of 6-13 in the finale. 

But, as India would later find it, it would serve just as a trailer. Mendis soon made his Test debut in the home series against the Men in Blue where- barring Virender Sehwag– he kept all the likes of Sachin, Dravid, Laxman at sea, picking up 8-132 in his debut Test.

The wiley spinner proceeded to break Alec Bedser’s record for most wickets(26 wickets) in a maiden Test series before shellacking Ajit Agarkar’s record of being the fastest to 50 ODI wickets (19 games).

Mendis is one of the rare set of bowlers to take a five-wicket haul in each of the three formats of the game and the first to claim two six-fers in T20I cricket. But, as with most of the mystery spinners, his decline was as rapid as his surge and with the likes of Rangana Herath, Sachithra Senanayake putting up consistent performances, he was soon dropped from the set-up, playing his last match for the national side in 2015.