Shukla’s effort in the nets allowed his team mates to play him freely as well, something that helped shed that ‘mysterious player’ tag. So much so that despite joining the Knight Riders as a mid-season signing to shore up their ‘foreign player’ resources following the departure of Ricky Ponting, Brad Hodge, Brendan McCullum, as also injuries to Chris Gayle and later, Shoaib Akhtar, Mendis still only got to play in a single game.

He also felt the Indian batsmen wouldn’t find it too hard to deal with the Lankan once they figured him out. “Once I got on top of him, he started bowling all over the place. I don’t remember very clearly, but I hit him for six or seven big ones. When I came out, John Buchanan told me I played him really well. I was happy as it was a challenge that I had thrown myself into... and won.”

The 27-year old, who has been in great form with the bat this season says the trick to countering Mendis is to play the ball as late as possible. “I would say you have to play the ball very late, but more importantly, you have to try and pick him from his hand.”