Still cracking the Mendis code

The Mendis footage can be divided into two categories: 8216;How to play8217; and 8216;How not to play8217;. The first section will mainly feature Virender Sehwag while the second category will have a collection of batsmen in different states of discomfort against his variations.

In a different league

But, while Sehwag may have scored 70 runs of his 201 at Galle, he doesn8217;t really provide the template to face Mendis. Sehwag8217;s unique batting is tough for others to follow, and despite the flamboyant opener8217;s success in Galle, Mendis remained a puzzle for the rest of the Indian batsmen.

The early reading when Sehwag was launching his assault was that 8216;using your feet8217; was the best option. But as batsmen failed on more than one occasion, they realised it was futile to leave the crease without picking the ball.

As you would expect, Sehwag8217;s approach to picking Mendis was quite different from what experts have suggested over the last month. Gundappa Vishwanath had said before the series that batsmen had to pick Mendis from his hand, and Gautam Gambhir 8212; one of the few players who seemed relatively comfortable against the spinner 8212; did just that. But Sehwag still insisted on picking Mendis from the pitch.

Reading the fastish spinner from the wicket is only possible for a rare player with tremendous hand-eye coordination, which didn8217;t make Sehwag the ideal man to emulate.

The one thing that could be learnt from Sehwag, though, was his positive attitude. Backing himself, playing his shots and avoiding the use of his pads is the very basic advice he could give those who don8217;t quite have his gift.

Learning the hard way

So, will the footage of the Test series give any clues to unravelling the Mendis mystery? The answer to that question is not in the Galle section of the video, where Sehwag was stepping out and hitting Mendis. Vital tips are probably hidden in the final chapter, in which Dravid and Laxman were forging a partnership on the final morning of the series 8212; playing forward, showing the full face of the bat, smothering the spin and rotating the strike.

The duo achieved that comfort level only after they were foxed several times in five innings.

Coaches and computer analysts can dissect Mendis8217;s bowling, but the Indian series will only give them cryptic clues to this complex cricketing crossword.