How Kusal Mendis walloped Shaheen Afridi and Haris Rauf and why he went for a six on 94 against Pakistan
Whenever Kusal Mendis reaches the vicinity of a hundred, the idea of a six enters his mind. His childhood coach Jayanith Aponso, who died a few years ago, once explained the reason: “He happened to watch Aravinda reach the milestone with a six and since then, he always tries to hit a six to his hundred.” The trait has irritated his coaches and teammates over the years. “I used to tell him to take a single, and get to the hundred and then hit sixes,” the coach had then said. But Mendis would not listen. It was the only advice he did not heed to, at the Moratuwa Sports Academy on the suburbs of Colombo where he honed his skills. His second highest Test score is 196; the third highest 194. Both times he perished slogging to the midwicket fence, and both times against Bangladesh. “I would t...