Kumar Sangakkara unimpressed with shuffling positions of Kusal Mendis

Former Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara looked absolutely unimpressed with the way the team management is handling batsman Kusal Mendis. Mendis, who is a seasoned top order batsman, batted at number 5 in the recently concluded first ODI against Pakistan. Sri Lanka lost the match by quite some margin that has left the visitors with some thought work to do ahead of the coming fixtures.

A day after the match, Kumar Sangakkara took to micro blogging site Twitter to express his unhappiness with Kusal Mendis batting at number 5 in the batting order. In the match, he scored 2 before becoming a victim of Hasan Ali. Sangakkara believes that Mendis should be batting at number 3 or 4 in the ODIs – a position that suits his batting style.

“Why is @KusalMendis1 batting at #5? Shouldn’t he be 3 or 4 in the ODI’s,” tweeted Kumar Sangakkara in amusement.

Why is @KusalMendis1 batting at #5? Shouldn't he be 3 or 4 in the ODI's

— Kumar Sangakkara (@KumarSanga2) October 14, 2017

No faith shown

The team management has not been showing faith in the abilities of Kusal Mendis for quite some time now. The team manager had quoted that Mendis will be batting at number 3 when Sri Lanka had hosted India a month ago. He had quoted Mendis to be the long term number 3 batsman of the team. However, since then, the management has been experimenting with his batting position.

In the series against India, he was rested after such claims were made. Dilshan Munaweera was brought in to the line up to bat at number three. This failed to work as well. For the Test series against Pakistan, Lahiru Thirimanne was drafted in at the number 3 position while Mendis played at four. Thirimanne struggled in the first Test and Sadeera Samarwickrama replaced him at number 3 in the second Test.

While Sri Lanka have not been backing their key players like Kusal Mendis due to poor form, the counter parts Pakistan have shown great faith in their players. They backed Babar Azam in the top order despite his poor run in the Tests. He responded well with a century in the first ODI.