The Sri Lankan off-spinner got rid of Australia's rampaging opening batter with a pearl past his defence.
It took an absolute beauty from Sri Lankan off-spinner Ramesh Mendis to get the better of an in-form Usman Khawaja on the opening day of the second Test in Galle this Friday (July 8).
Batting on 37 off 76 at the time and setting himself up for another long haul at the crease, Khawaja was outfoxed by a peach of a ball from Mendis as it threatened to come into the left-hander before turning sharply to hit the off-stump.
The batter was left stunned by the quality of the delivery on offer and looked at the pitch for a second or two in disbelief as to what had just happened.
Usman Khawaja perhaps didn’t expect the Day 1 surface in Galle to offer such vicious turn to the spinners. But Mendis gripped one from the angle, got the left-hander committed to the stroke and then ruffled him up with off-break.
Ramesh Mendis’ moment of glory against an in-form Usman Khawaja
The dismissal took place near the close of the 22nd over in the Australian first-innings. Eyeing another significant score to his name, Usman Khawaja went for a forward defensive push to tackle the threat of Sri Lankan off-spinner Mendis.
Despite the dry nature of the surface, the batter evidently had the ball covered, playing it in line with the angle from around-the-wicket. The only mistake that Khawaja perhaps made was not to hide the off-stump enough. It was an error that hurt him as Mendis got his ball to grip and turn sharply past his outside edge onto the off-stump.
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The moment the ball hit the stick behind him Khawaja would’ve realised the mistake he has made and was seen staring at the deck for a brief, wearing a look of disbelief. The batter was stumped by the quality of the delivery that Mendis had managed to extract out of him all of a sudden.
— cric fun (@cric12222) July 8, 2022
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The look on Mendis’ face, though, told an entirely different tale as the jubilant Sri Lankan spinner unveiled a fist pump and carried a spring in his stride in joining his teammates in celebrations for the all-important breakthrough.
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