I can make coffee with both hands

I lay speechless, watching Kamindu Mendis switch bowling arms mid-over like he was simply changing gears on a car. The casual ease of it struck me—this wasn't just impressive, it was something I'd never witnessed before.

We toss around "ambidextrous" far too liberally in cricket conversations. I've caught myself doing it countless times. But witnessing Kamindu shattered my understanding completely.

Ben Stokes bats left while bowling right. Warner smashes boundaries lefty but throws righty. Even the legendary Sachin writes with his left while dominating with his right in batting and bowling.

Phenomenal players? Absolutely. But truly ambidextrous? Not even close. That’s cross-dominance.

What Kamindu accomplishes transcends mere cross-dominance. He executes the identical skill—bowling—with both arms at elite professional standards, all while withstanding the crushing pressure of international competition.

His uniqueness isn't just rare—it's practically solitary in modern cricket.

I couldn't tear my eyes away when I first saw him alternate between right-arm off-spin and left-arm orthodox with surgical precision. Each delivery maintained its purpose, its threat.

The genesis of this extraordinary talent originated when 13-year-old Kamindu practised at Richmond College in Galle. His coach, Dhanushka Dhinagama, casually suggested, "Why don’t you try bowling with your other arm?"

Most teenagers would have attempted a few awkward deliveries before abandoning the challenge.

Not Kamindu. He remained after everyone departed. Right arm. Left arm. Repetition after repetition. Day stretching into weeks, into months.

His coaches displayed remarkable wisdom by never forcing him to select a dominant side—a freedom rarely afforded to developing athletes. This unconventional approach transformed his trajectory completely.

By 17, Kamindu mesmerised audiences at the Under-19 World Cup, seamlessly transitioning between arms within a single over. He turned deliveries away from both left and right-handed batsmen with exceptional accuracy.

I watched in awe as Kamindu casually switched arms and bowled with dead-on accuracy. He even dismissed Jadejayesterday with that off-spin of his! Who does that?

(His Superman catch yesterday to dismiss Dewald Brevis was out of this world, too.)

Watch it here

The most astonishing part? Batting remains his primary strength. He didn't develop ambidexterity out of necessity—he pursued it through sheer curiosity and passionate devotion to cricket.

Mastering bowling with your natural arm at an international level demands extraordinary skill. Achieving equivalent proficiency with your non-dominant arm—managing different grips, angles, and entirely divergent mechanics—creates essentially a separate sporting discipline altogether.

Yet Kamindu performs this feat routinely under the searing spotlights of IPL and international cricket.

His remarkable talent deserves far greater recognition.

Not just because it’s flashy, but because it’s the result of a kind of commitment most athletes (and people) wouldn’t even consider.

Ciao

Thinking Cricketer