Continuing the excellence with the bat, Sri Lanka were steadily moving towards a formidable total in the first session. Despite Angelo Mathews and Dhananjaya de Silva’s stay for a brief period, Kusal Mendis accompanied Kamindu Mendis for the majority of the day with the pair orchestrating a double hundred stand. The latter’s 150 runs milestone was followed up by the former’s century, which came in some charismatic manner.
Following a double and a dot in the first couple of balls in the 163rd over, Kusal stepped down the ground on a fuller-length delivery against Glenn Phillips while at 99*. He shortened the pitch by getting near to the cork and whacked it down the ground, straight over the bowler’s head like an arrow to bring up his century with a six. Subsequently, the wicketkeeper-batter stripped off his helmet and raised the bat towards the dugout in jubilation. Generally, players tend to play a less risky stroke while nearing a milestone mark but Kusal’s audacity took the Twitterverse by storm, praising his attacking mindset.
His day
Dominating
Good performance
Well played
Tenth hundred
Joined elite list