Kamindu Mendis bowled just one over for Sunrisers Hyderabad against Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens on Thursday. He did something that was never seen before in the IPL.
He switched his bowling arm during an over, making his place permanent in the IPL history. The tournament is into its 18th year and nobody did that before him. What Mendis did on his IPL debut was perfectly legal.
The Sri Lankan, a Rs 75-lakh buy for SRH, was brought into the attack in the 13th over during KKR’s innings. He bowled left-arm spin to start with and dismissed a dangerous-looking Angkrish Raghuvanshi in his fourth ball. It was a length delivery outside off that the KKR batsman tried to hit over cover. But he sliced towards deep square third man, where Harshal Patel took a brilliant catch, running in and diving forward.
Rinku Singh came to the crease and Mendis switched to right-arm off-break. His next two balls accounted for two singles, as Mendis finished his over with four runs and a wicket. Why he wasn’t given another over was anyone’s guess.
The Laws of Cricket allows a bowler to switch his bowling arm during an over. Just that he/she needs to inform the umpire every time the switch is made. Mendis has done it before – at the 2016 U-19 World Cup and then in a T20I against India last year. He bowled left-arm orthodox to Suryakumar Yadav and right-arm off-spin to Rishabh Pant.
Far afield, John Buchanan, KKR’s first coach, would have been happy if he were watching. Buchanan was a fan of ambidextrous bowling. In fact, the KKR probables in 2009 had two bowlers of that type.
Switching bowling arms during an over has happened before Mendis in international cricket. Sri Lanka’s Hashan Tillakaratne did that against Kenya at the 1996 World Cup. But why wasn’t Mendis given another over against KKR?
SRH bowling coach James Franklin chose to be politically correct at the post-match press conference. “Kamindu came in and bowled a really good over,” he said. “The match-up was really good for him to come in and he obviously got a wicket as well.”
The bowling coach rued giving away 65 runs off the last four overs, as he stopped short of calling Cummins’s decision a tactical error. “I mean I think it’s more to do with the fact that maybe those last few overs just got away a little bit on us,” said Franklin. “Maybe, a little bit of assessment, a little bit of execution and that’s probably more what we need to reflect on rather than whether or not tactically it was the right decision to not bowl Kamindu Mendis another over.”