Ajantha Mendis is the sorcerer's apprentice

IF you observe Balapuwaduge Ajantha Winslo Mendis at a press conference, you can almost imagine Alice in Wonderland.

Along with the enigmatic smiles as his captain or manager translates his answers from Sinhala to English, there is a sense of wide-eyed wonder, almost as if he's asking himself: “What am I doing here and how did it happen?”

Just three years ago, Mendis, then 20, was trying to figure out what to do with his life. His academic career had been undistinguished, and he was playing for a local club when a chance encounter changed his life.

The Sri Lankan Army provided the opposition, and they liked what they saw of the youngster. After learning that Mendis was unemployed, the army made their move. His mother, a pious Catholic who raised her sister's children alongside her own, was reluctant, but the army's coaches managed to convince her that her son wouldn't be sent to the war front in Jaffna.

When he got to the army, Saman Hewavitharana, his coach, was amazed by what he saw.

“When he joined the army, he had only the off-break and leg-break,” he said recently. “But on his own, he started developing other deliveries at practice.”

The army had no great cricketing tradition and played in Tier B of the championship. In tandem with Seekuge Prasanna, a leg-spinner who dismissed Sachin Tendulkar in India's tour opener, Mendis inspired the army's run to the title. His contribution was 68 wickets at 10.51, and though there was little media coverage of the second rung, the buzz around the grounds where he played forced the selectors to take notice.

An Australian with fond memories of the subcontinent also played his part. In 1969-70, Ashley Mallett took 28 Indian wickets with his off-spin as Bill Lawry's side triumphed 3-1. Four decades on, he holds spin clinics twice a year in Sri Lanka.

Ruwan Kalpage, who played 11 Tests for Sri Lanka in the 1990s, was the chief coach at the spinners' clinic, and Mallett recommended Mendis get some special attention.

While they watched him, they did nothing to tamper with his unique style and repertoire. It's rare enough to find someone who bowls off-breaks, leg-breaks, flippers and googlies with a measure of control, but what Mendis has is a special delivery comparable to Coca Cola's secret 7X ingredient. Like the soft drink, there's real fizz off the pitch, but it's only when you watch the replays that you can marvel at the method behind it.

Holding the ball along the seam between forefinger and thumb, with the seam then pointed in the direction of gully, Mendis propels the ball with the knuckle and nail of his middle finger. If you try it at home, the chances are that the ball will drop somewhere near your feet. He manages to land it perfectly time after time, and after pitching, it zips away from the batsman like a leg-cutter.

Some have named it the “carrom ball” because of the manner in which the leather is flicked towards the batsman, and along with a loopy googly that he disguises beautifully, it remains the most potent weapon in his armoury.

When he made his one-day debut against West Indies a few months ago, commentators such as Colin Croft struggled to classify him. Hewavitharana, his former coach, calls him a “spin mix bowler”, while a Sri Lankan journalist who asked Mendis himself was astonished when he answered: “I'm an off-cutter bowler.”

His variations were far too much for both Pakistan and India at the Asia Cup in June-July, with the Indian humiliation in the final especially acute. The cream of a young batting line-up that had beaten Australia earlier in the year was rendered clueless, and commentators back in India were left to console themselves with the thought that the middle-order legends would all be back for the Test series in Sri Lanka.

After his 6-13 in that Asia Cup final, the hype surrounding Mendis was similar to the fame that David Beckham found with his 50-yard goal against Wimbledon more than a decade earlier.

India tried to play down the threat, with Rahul Dravid saying: “It will be a mistake to focus just on Mendis. We have come up against a lot of bowlers in our time and have succeeded against them.”

Prophetic words, as it turned out. Originally considered a one-day prospect, Mendis began to befuddle batsmen of the quality of Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene in the Sri Lankan nets. After his Asia Cup feats, the urge to throw him in at the deep end was irresistible.

That it would be a dream debut was seldom in doubt once Sri Lanka's batsmen had piled up 600 against a listless Indian attack. Mendis planted seeds of doubt in his first four overs, and then reaped the reward with the first delivery of his fifth. The carrom ball on middle stump forced Dravid back in his crease, but by the time the bat arced down, the ball had crashed into the top of off stump. Anil Kumble and Zaheer Khan were then bamboozled by his variations before a magnificent over fetched him the prize wicket.

At his best, VVS Laxman is a master against the turning ball, the man who demoralised Shane Warne by flicking against the spin through midwicket, and driving inside out through extra-cover. Mendis set him up with two carrom balls that barely missed the edge before a superb googly sneaked through bat and pad.

In the second innings, he took out Laxman and Dravid again to finish with match figures of 8-132 as Sri Lanka romped him by an innings and 238 runs.

“It's hard enough to pick him from the hand,” said an Indian batsman later. “But the way he gets it to spit off the pitch makes him even harder to play.”