Four innings into his Test career, Kamindu Mendis has now equalled a long-standing world record held by Javed Miandad.
Sri Lanka broke many a record during the first Test of the two-match series, at Sylhet. Most of the records featured Dhananjaya de Silva and Kamindu Mendis, who became the third pair of teammates to score two hundreds in the same Test match.
Mendis, in particular, made 102 from No.7 and 164 from No.8 (the highest by anyone batting that low away from home) to become the first batter to make two hundreds despite batting in the bottom five.
In the second Test at Chattogram, Sri Lanka set yet another world record, of amassing the largest total (531) without an individual hundred. Kusal Mendis top-scored with 93, while Kamindu Mendis remained unbeaten on 92.
On his Test debut, against Australia at Galle in 2022, Kamindu Mendis had made 61 in his only innings. The twin hundreds in the Sylhet Test took his career aggregate to 327 runs after three innings – third on the all-time list, after ‘Tip’ Foster’s 355 and Lawrence Rowe’s 336.
Now, after the unbeaten 92, Mendis’ career aggregate stands at 419 runs after four innings. He equalled the tally of Javed Miandad, who had started his career with 163, 25 not out, 25, and 206 across a fortnight in October 1976.
The only other batter to breach the 400-run barrier after four innings was the Australian Herbie Collins, who started his career with 70, 104, 64, and 162 in the 1920/21 Ashes, the first Test series after the First World War.
The record aggregate for the first five innings is Vinod Kambli’s 544. Mendis was dismissed for nine in the Sri Lanka second innings meaning that Kambli’s record remains in tact.
At Chattogram, Bangladesh were bowled out for 178 as Asitha Fernando claimed 4-34. Opting to bat again despite the 353-run lead, Sri Lanka were 93-6 at the time of writing. They lead by 431 runs with more than two days left in the Test match.
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