5 bowlers who were dominant for a short span of time

1. Ajantha Mendis (Sri Lanka)

Batsmen found it impossible to pick Mendis in his early days

One of the known mystery spinners to have played international cricket, Sri Lanka’s Ajantha Mendis has had a decent career for his home side so far. In 87 ODI matches, Mendis has taken 152 wickets and has another 70 wickets in 19 Tests. Apart from that, he has also enjoyed success in T20I cricket, too, with 66 wickets in 39 games.

The off-spinner made a dream start to his career in the 50-over format and reached dizzy heights of success in his very first year. In 18 matches, Mendis claimed as many as 48 ODI wickets at an average of slightly over 10 and best figures of 6 for 13 against India in the 2008 Asia Cup final.

Ajantha Mendis has not been able to replicate his incredible performance in 2008 over the course of his career so far and it looks unlikely that it will happen again as he is not a part of the Sri Lankan team.