ICC Crowns Sri Lanka's Kamindu Mendis With Emerging Cricketer Of The Year Award
Kamindu Mendis [Source: @OfficialSLC/x]
Sri Lankan batting star Kamindu Mendis has been crowned as the ICC Men’s Emerging Cricketer of the Year as part of the ICC Awards 2024. The 26-year-old, who made his Test debut back in mid-2022, made each of his nine subsequent Test appearances for Sri Lanka during the 12-month period last year.
Mendis plundered over 1,000 runs to finish the year as the fifth highest run-maker of 2024 in Tests, and the youngster was also fittingly named in ICC’s Test Team of the Year alongside modern-day greats like Pat Cummins, Jasprit Bumrah, Kane Williamson, Joe Root and Ravindra Jadeja.
Kamindu Mendis wins ‘Emerging Player of the Year’
Kamindu Mendis, aged 26, was adjudged as the ICC Men’s Emerging Cricketer of the Year 2024, beating out some heavy competition from Pakistan’s Saim Ayub, England’s Gus Atkinson and West Indies’ tearaway paceman Shamar Joseph.
The left-handed middle-order minted 1,458 runs in 38 innings spanning 34 matches for Sri Lanka across all formats, at a splendid average of 47.03. Moreover, the cricketer plundered five hundreds and five half-centuries in the process.
Remarkably, Kamindu Mendis racked up 1,049 of those runs in his nine Test appearances for Sri Lanka in the year 2024. Finishing the year as the format’s fifth highest run-maker, his average of 74.92 marked the highest among all cricketers from 2024 with more than 500 runs to their names.
During the course of his run-fest, Kamindu Mendis also became the joint-third fastest batter in Test history to scale 1,000 runs, joining late Don Bradman in his elite milestone.
One of his best performances of the year remains the 113 he punched out against England on a tough Old Trafford surface back in August 2024. The cricketer also unleashed his career-best score of 182* against New Zealand in Galle the following month.