KL Rahul vs Kusal Mendis: Dissecting two upcoming stars

Consistency vs Inconsistency in overall record

Mendis has played a lot of his early matches in difficult conditions outside the sub-continent

While Mendis has quite a few standout knocks in his short career thus far, it is Rahul who has adopted consistency in his methods. He boasts of better overall numbers across all formats. Mendis, who started with a bang, had tough tours of England and South Africa and this has played a huge role in a below par average at this stage of his career.

KL Rahul's overall record

Format	Matches	Runs	Average	HS
Tests	17	1200	44.44	199
ODIs	6	220	55.0	100*
T20s	8	280	56.0	110*

Compared to Mendis, Rahul has played a vast majority of his matches within the sub-continent, aiding in his better overall numbers. Mendis is the more flamboyant of the two but is a little too flashy on seaming wickets, which has plotted his downfall against skillful bowlers in England and South Africa.

Kusal Mendis - overall record

Format	Matches	Runs	Average	HS
Tests	16	1106	35.67	194
ODIs	33	1087	36.23	102
T20s	8	74	9.25	22

An injury had forced Rahul out of the Champions Trophy but he will return in the Test series against Sri Lanka later this month, where he is expected to be India's first-choice opener alongside Murali Vijay. He would also be pitted against Kusal Mendis during the series, with both batsmen expected to shine.