Kusal Mendis Biography – Family | Records | Career | Stats

Kusal Mendis Biography: The talented cricketer Kusal Mendis plays for the Sri Lanka team and represents his side as a Wicketkeeper batter and helped the side on various critical occasions.

He was part of the Sri Lankan team in all formats of cricket for 5-6 years. He plays in the top order and is also a spin bowler option for the team. He has gone through lots of ups and downs in his career.

Despite being sidelined many times in his career, he made a great comeback and helped the side many times.

Kusal Mendis Biography

Kusal Mendis Biography: The wicket-keeper batter made many records like being the highest scorer against Australia on home soil and away grounds. Check out the player’s biography, his family, his cricketing career, records and stats below.

Kusal Mendis Family

Kusal Mendis Biography: Kusal Mendis started his cricketing journey at the age of 5 years. Mendis played matches for his school team and helped the side to win many tournaments. He was named as the schoolboy cricketer in the year 2013.

He went to Prince of Wales College in Moratuwa and led the college team and national young team. Kusal Mendis was known for converting his starts to big totals and rattling the opposition.

Kusal Mendis married Travis Alabanza on February 12, 2021, in Colombo. The lovely couple were blessed with a baby girl in June 2022.

Domestic Career

• Kusal Mendis started his domestic career back in 2014 and he played for Colombo Cricket Club. He was also picked in the Sri Lankan Under-19 squad for the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup and also captained the team in the tournament.
• In 2018, he was named in the Dambulla squad for a domestic tournament and Kusal Mendis played in the Super Four Provincial tournament and then in the Super Provincial one-day tournament and completed the tournament with the highest run taker for the side.
• During the Sri Lanka Premier League in 2018, he was part of the Galle squad and ended the tournament as the leading run scorer for his team where he scored 182 runs in 6 matches.
• Kusal Mendis made his first-class debut match between Bloomfield and Ragama on January 16-18, 2015 where the match resulted in a draw.
  • He smashed his maiden double century in first class back in 2019 in a match against Nondescripts Cricket Club and won the match. He smashed three centuries and one double century during the season.
• Kusal Mendis was roped in by the Galle squad in LPL 2021 and was retained by the franchise for the next season in 2022.
• Kusal Mendis made his List A match debut in the match between Sri Lanka A and Rest at Pallekele on May 17, 2013, where he scored 33 runs. But the match concluded with the victory of Sri Lanka by 139 runs.
• Kusal Mendis made his T20 debut in the match between SLPACC and Bloomfield on April 01, 2015, in Colombo.

International Career

Test Career

• Kusal Mendis made his Test debut in the match against Sri Lanka and West Indies on October 22-26, 2015 scored 13 and 39 runs in 1st and 2nd innings, where they won the match by 72 runs.
• On 28, July 2016, Mendis scored his maiden Test Century in the first test match against Australia at Pallekele Stadium. Sri Lanka won the match with 106 runs and Kusal Mendis was named as the Player of the Match.
• During the fifth match of the Tri-series against West Indies in Zimbabwe, Kusal Mendis scored 94 runs and helped the side to post 330 runs in 50 overs, which is the side’s highest total against West Indies.
• During the first test match against Bangladesh in 2017, he scored his second Test century and was caught just 6 runs before his double century. Tamim Iqbal caught his catch dismissing him for 194 runs.
• During the first test match against Bangladesh in 2018, Kusal Mendis scored his fourth Test hundred on the third match of the day which was also his 23rd birthday. His partnership with De Silva scored 308 runs whereas Kusal Mendis scored 196 runs.
• During the first test against New Zealand in 2018, he scored his sixth Test Century. Along with Angelo Matthews, they scored an unbeaten double-century. But due to heavy rainfall, the match ended in a draw. It was the first time for the Sri Lankan pair to score 200+ runs in the second test outside Asia.
• During the second Test, he reached 1000 test runs in the calendar year 2018. He is the second player after Indian star Virat Kohli to achieve this feat.
• During the Test series against Zimbabwe on 19, January 2020, Mendis scored his seventh century in the second innings and the side won the series 1-0.
• During the second Test match against the Australian series in July 2022, Kusal scored 85 in a partnership score of 152 runs alongside with Dimuth Karunaratne.
• On April 08, 2023, during the match against Ireland, he scored his 8th test century. He scored 140 runs including 18 fours and one six. His partnership with Dimuth proved to be one of the highest partnership runs for Sri Lanka as he scored 281 runs where Sri Lanka won by 280 runs.
  • During the second Test match on April 24, 2023, he scored his maiden double century. He scored 245 runs hitting 18 fours and 11 sixes. His partnership run of 268 with Nishan Madushanka made them win the match and Mendis was named as the Player of the Series.

ODI Career

• His ODI debut comes from the 1st match of Sri Lanka’s tour of England in 2016 where Sri Lanka won the match by 76 runs. He scored a fifty in the match and joined the list of batters to score a fifty in his ODI debut.
• He made his maiden ODI century during the second ODI match against Bangladesh on 28, March 2017 at Dambulla International Stadium, But the match ended with no result due to heavy rainfall.
• During the 2017 ICC Champions trophy, Kusal Mendis scored 89 runs in the match against India where their side successfully chased 321 runs. This chase is recorded as the highest successful run chase in the ICC tournament.
• During the ODI match against Zimbabwe on June 30, 2017, he crossed 1000 ODI runs and became the second fastest for Sri Lanka to achieve this feat.

• On February 25, 2020, Kusal Mendis scored his second ODI century against West Indies and made a partnership with Avishka Fernando to score 239 runs for the third wicket. The side made 345 runs for 8 wickets and folded the Windies for 161 runs.

After his ban for one year in July 2021 due to a bio-secure bubble during Sri Lanka’s tour of England, Sri Lanka lifted the ban early in January 2022.

T20I Career

Kusal Mendis made his T20I debut on the first match of Sri Lanka’s tour of England at Southampton on July 05, 2016, where he scored 21 runs. But England won the match by 8 wickets.

• He scored a fifty in the first T20I match against Bangladesh in 2018 and assured victory for his side. Bangladesh scored 193 runs in 20 overs and Kusal Mendis- Gunathilaka pair scored 43 runs in 4.5 overs. Later the side won the match with six wickets difference.
  • During the second T20I match against Bangladesh in 2018, he scored another fifty where Sri Lanka posted 210 runs in 20 overs. They won the series 2-0 and Kusal Mendis was awarded as the Player of the Match and Player of the Series.
• On September 01, 2019, Kusal Mendis scored 79 runs on 53 deliveries against New Zealand in the first T20I, but their side lost the match after New Zealand successfully chased the target of 174.
• on February 20, 2022, Kusal Mendis scored his sixth T20I fifty against Australia and was named the Man of the Match for his impressive performance in the match.
• During the T20I match against Bangladesh on 01 September 2022, Kusal Mendis scored his 7th  T20I fifty where the side won the match and he was awarded as the Player of the Match.
• On January 05, 2023, during the match against India, Kusal Mendis scored his 11th T20I fifty where they won the match by 16 runs.
• During the 3rd T20I match against New Zealand on April 08, 2023, Mendis scored his 12th T20I fifty. He scored 73 runs on 48 deliveries hitting six fours and five sixes, but Sri Lanka lost the match.

World Cup Career

ICC Men’s T20I World Cup 2022

• During the First round of the tournament, they played against the Netherlands Cricket Team, Kusal Mendis scored his 9th T20I half-century. He scored 79 runs in 44 balls hitting five fours and five sixes. Sri Lanka won the match by 16 runs and qualified for Super 12 while Mendis was named as the Player of the Match.
• During the first match of Super 12 in the T20 World Cup 2022 against Ireland, Mendis scored his 10th fifty. During that inning, he reached 1000 T20I runs. Sri Lanka won the match by 9 wickets and Mendis won the Player of the Match.

ICC Men’s ODI World Cup 2023

• In the ODI World Cup 2023 4th group match between SL vs SA played on October 07 at Arun Jaitley Stadium, Kusal Mendis scored 76 runs in his team’s 428 runs chase. Despite his efforts with bat, Sri Lanka lost the match by a massive 102 runs.
• Kusal Mendis scored 122 runs in the SL vs PAK match and helped the side set up a huge score. But Pakistan won the match with six wickets in hand.

Kusal Mendis Records

• With his first test hundred, Kusal Mendis became the youngest Sri Lankan to score a test hundred against Australia. Kusal Mendis holds the record for the highest score against Australia in Sri Lanka.
• Kusal Mendis is the joint second-fastest with Tharanga to score 1000 ODI runs in Sri Lanka.
• Kusal Mendis has the 10th highest strike rate in an ODI innings with 311.11.
• He has been in great form with the bat making three centuries with a high score of 194.
• He scored a double century during the second Test match against Ireland on April 24, 2023.
• Kusal Mendis scored the Fastest Hundred for Sri Lanka in World Cup History during the match against Pakistan. He scored a ton on 65 deliveries including 14 fours and 6 Sixes.

Kusal Mendis Controversies 

Road Accident 

Despite being one of the well-known cricketers, Kusal Mendis was caught in a controversy after he was arrested for being involved in a road accident. He was driving a vehicle that hit an elderly cyclist, who died in the hospital. He was released on bail after the incident.

Bio Bubble Breach in UK

During Sri Lanka’s tour of England in 2021, Sri Lanka Cricket suspended Kusal Mendis, Danushka Gunathilaka, and Niroshan Dickwella due to the breach of the team’s bio-secure bubble.

They were sent back home ahead of the ODI matches. Following the incident, Mendis was suspended from playing international cricket for one year. Later his ban was lifted in January 2022 by SLC.

Kusal Mendis Batting Stats

Kusal Mendis Bowling Stats