Kamindu Mendis scored a quickfire 44.
Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) all-rounder Kamindu Mendis played a match-winning knock in Sri Lanka’s opening T20 World Cup 2026 fixture against Ireland. He was drafted in the XI ahead of Charith Asalanka and proved his selection correct on a tricky batting deck in Colombo.
Kamindu scored 44 runs in 19 balls, including four boundaries and two maximums, at a strike rate of 231.58 while batting at No.6. 45.45% of his runs came via fours and sixes, and he scored 26.99% of the team’s runs alone.
When the southpaw came to the crease, Sri Lanka were 86/4 in 13.5 overs, having not hit a boundary in 47 deliveries, with Ireland spinners tightening their grip on the game. However, Kamindu Mendis showed his range immediately and gave some impetus to the innings by taking on the spinners in the slog overs.
The SRH all-rounder had some luck as well, with Irish fielders dropping a few catches and being sloppy in the field, but Kamindu was proactive enough to capitalise on the lifelines. Eventually, he was dismissed in the 19th over, but his knock had put Sri Lanka in a good position by forming a prudent 67-run stand with Kusal Mendis.
SRH bought Liam Livingstone for a whopping INR 13 crore at the IPL 2026 auction to further boost their batting strength and get useful bowling value. However, he might not fit in the role they are expecting, as his stint with RCB showed, and SRH will need to bring in Kamindu Mendis for lower-order hitting.
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As powerful as Livingstone is, his best as a batter comes while in the top five, but SRH’s top five are already set: Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan, Nitish Kumar Reddy, and Heinrich Klaasen. If they mess with Reddy’s spot, as they did last season, his batting skills will again be underutilised, and SRH don’t have many Indian pace-bowling all-rounders to drop him either.
Assuming Reddy gets a long run at No.4, where he fetched ample success in IPL 2024, Livingstone will need to bat at No.6, where he has never succeeded in T20s. That role will be more suited to Kamindu Mendis, who has a strike rate of 158.40 and a balls-per-boundary ratio of 5.43 at this batting position.
As a bowler, he can use his ambidextrous skills to remain unpredictable and give two overs consistently in the middle, especially after his improved numbers with the ball. Since 2025, Kamindu has 11 wickets at 20.18 runs apiece and an economy rate of 7.83 in all T20s, and he has shown bowling smarts from time to time, which would give SRH some confidence to back him ahead of Livingstone in IPL 2026.
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