"You were playing something else, and the ball was something else" - When MS Dhoni admitted that India were bamboozled by a Sri Lankan spinner

Team India struggled against Sri Lanka's spinners during the three-match one-day series in the island nation last year. Leg-spinner Jeffrey Vandersay and left-arm spinner Dunith Wellalage troubled most Indian batters, while even part-time off-spinner Charith Asalanka proved too good for the Men in Blue.

While India traditionally have been known as good players of spin, there have been phases where there have fared rather badly against slow bowlers. New Zealand spinners outshone their Indian counterparts during the three-match Test series in India in 2024 as the Kiwis stunned the hosts 3-0.

During the 2008 Asia Cup, Sri Lanka's mystery spinner Ajantha Mendis stunned a strong Indian batting line-up with figures of 6-13 in the final in Karachi. The off-spinner dismissed Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma and Irfan Pathan to completely derail the Men in Blue in a chase of 274.

MS Dhoni, who captained India in that game, admitted at the press conference that their batters were totally clueless against Mendis. He, however, did not blame the batters and pointed out that they had never played him before.

Reflecting on Team India's struggles against Mendis, Dhoni said (as quoted by ESPNcricinfo):

"Most of our batsmen couldn't pick him. We had never played him before. We had only seen videos and you can visualize and all, but he was difficult to pick out there in the middle. We never had any real reply against him.

"It was like you were playing something else, and the ball was something else. I won't really blame the batsman, we couldn't pick the deliveries. If you see our bowling, it was the best bowling line-up we could offer when we wanted one more extra batsman in the side. They tried their best and we could have got 274 but for the Mendis factor," he added.

While Sehwag top-scored for the Men in Blue in the final with 60 off 36 balls, Dhoni contributed a valiant 49 off 74. Team India were bowled out for 173 in 39.3 overs.

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Ajantha Mendis claimed 26 wickets in the three-match Test series against India in 2008

Mendis made his Test debut against India in Colombo during the three-match series played in Sri Lanka in 2008. He was the leading wicket-taker in the series, claiming 26 scalps in six innings at an average of 18.38.

The Lankan spinner claimed eight wickets in his debut Test and 10 in the second Test in Galle. In the deciding Test of the series in Colombo, he picked up eight wickets and was named Player of the Series as Sri Lanka won the series 2-1.