A 3-tool participant is baseball parlance for somebody who excels within the three main aspects of the game.
If one had been to increase that thought to cricket, Sunrisers Hyderabad’s Kamindu Mendis might be described as a four-tool participant – assured with the bat, athletic within the discipline and able to bowling spin with each palms. A unicorn of a cricketer, if one may say.
On Friday, the multifaceted Kamindu proved to be the distinction for SRH in an attritional win in opposition to Chennai Tremendous Kings on the Chepauk.
Taking part in simply his third IPL recreation, the Sri Lankan all-rounder made an affect with all 4 of his ability units to energy his facet to a 3rd win of the season.
With the ball, Kamindu effortlessly switched from left-arm spin for right-handed batters to off-spin for left-handed batters, providing SRH a readymade away-turning possibility in opposition to CSK.
For SRH head coach Daniel Vettori, Kamindu’s near-equal proficiency with each arms has been a nice shock.
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“I believe I in all probability didn’t fairly respect how good his bowling was with each arms. His means to return and ahead and management his tempo is an actual ability. So, no less than to offer us one choice to take it away [from the batters], it simply balanced our workforce completely,” mentioned Vettori on the post-match press convention on Friday.
The ambidextrous spinner helped SRH acquire ascendancy within the center overs by conceding simply six runs in his first two overs whereas rattling Ravindra Jadeja’s stumps with a fast arm ball.
However Kamindu’s bowling figures took a success in his third over, the place he was mowed for 3 sixes by Dewald Brevis, whereas bowling his left-arm spin.
It didn’t take too lengthy for Kamindu to make amends, with what would emerge as his most eye-catching involvement from the sport.
Within the very subsequent over, Kamindu extinguished the South African’s blazing knock with a surprising catch. CSK head coach Stephen Fleming later pinpointed Kamindu’s seize because the second the place the sport slipped from his workforce’s palms.
Posted at lengthy off, the SRH all-rounder reacted rapidly to a flat, thumping shot from Brevis in the direction of his left. With eyes firmly on the ball, he ate up the bottom, masking over 10 metres in a flash, earlier than lifting off and attacking the flying orb with each palms – a dive that may have made Fiorentina goalkeeper David de Gea proud.
Harshal Patel of Sunrisers Hyderabad reacts to the beautiful catch from Kamindu Mendis to dismiss Dewald Brevis of Chennai Tremendous Kings.
| Picture Credit score:
Prathiksha MK / Sportzpics for IPL
Harshal Patel of Sunrisers Hyderabad reacts to the beautiful catch from Kamindu Mendis to dismiss Dewald Brevis of Chennai Tremendous Kings.
| Picture Credit score:
Prathiksha MK / Sportzpics for IPL
A couple of seconds later, Kamindu emerged again on his ft, with the ball secure in his grasp as Chepauk gaped in astonishment.
“I believe it’s simply intuition. It’s an innate means to have the ability to transfer, to see the ball and time your diving. In all probability a type of catches that even a superb fielder solely has one or two of their profession.
“Extra importantly, [it came] in the mean time within the recreation when Brevis was beginning to take management, placing lots of stress again on us. And if he’d stayed in, I don’t know the rating would have gotten extra out of us, and it will have been a troublesome chase,” mentioned Vettori.
Kamindu’s day was removed from over after the catch. The left-handed batter was quickly again within the center, marshalling a difficult chase for SRH on a floor which was gripping.
The Sri Lankan dug into his Check cricket pedigree – Kamindu averages 62.31 within the longer format – to forestall his workforce from sliding from five-down. The 26-year-old struck simply three fours in his 32-run knock as he waded by waves of CSK stress to safe a much-needed win for his workforce.
Kamindu’s batting means, significantly in opposition to spin, was one thing SRH was banking on on the Chepauk.
“Quite a lot of the logic was figuring for this floor is that we knew what kind of service we’d come up in opposition to. And to have a batsman who has the flexibility to play all varieties of spin, be aggressive and hit a large number of pictures is ideal,” mentioned Vettori.
Regardless of being the bodily manifestation of the thought of an ideal spin-bowling all-rounder, Kamindu’s T20 profession has been a stop-start one, usually weighed down by his restricted big-hitting means. His versatile efficiency in opposition to CSK could possibly be the ignition spark it wanted.