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Sri Lanka’s Kamindu Mendis won the ICC Emerging Player of the Year 2024. The 26-year-old scored 1451 runs, including 1049 in Tests, with five centuries, one being 113 vs England.
Kamindu Mendis. (Image: AFP)
Sri Lanka’s Kamindu Mendis has been awarded the ICC Emerging Player of the Year honor for 2024. The 26-year-old left-handed batter scored 1451 runs across formats at an average of over 50.
In Tests, he scored 1049 runs from nine matches at an average of 74.92. He hit five centuries and three fifties, most of them coming in a time of crisis for his team. This ability to be the ‘savior’ when Sri Lanka needed it the most, made him a regular in the Test side and one of the most promising batters in the sport.
“I am really happy to be the Emerging Player of the Year. It means a lot to me,” Mendis said in a statement to ICC. “I would like to thank my family, my teammates and my coaches. The innings I am the most proud of [from] last year [is] my century against England because in England, you can’t score a hundred easily. So, it was a good hard work. So I think that’s my best hundred [from] last year.”
His century against England — a 113 of 183 balls — came when his team were trying to put up a target in the third innings after conceding a huge 122-run deficit. It helped Sri Lanka recover from 173/5 to 326, though they lost the match.
Mendis then scored two fifties in the next two Tests of the stories.
“I put a lot of hard work in the nets, practice and training in the last couple of years. As a team, we worked hard [and did] really well in the last couple of years. We got some great performances last year, and big wins [as well],” Mendis added.
Mendis also scored a career-best 182 against New Zealand in Galle, eventually helping the hosts clean-sweep New Zealand 2-0. In the process, he also became the joint-third-quickest to 1000 Test runs, level with the great Don Bradman for breaching the milestone in just 13 innings.
Thanks to his consistent performances, Sri Lanka were in the running for a spot in the World Test Championship final until December. He’ll now be seen in action against Australia in the upcoming two-Test series which begins on January 29.
