He also extended his purple patch in the domestic season 2007/2008 under 23 division 1 tournament and was later selected to the pool of "Academy Squad" organised by Sri Lanka Cricket.

Local TV commentators predicted him as the ideal replacement for senior spinner Muttiah Muralitharan in time to come and nicknamed him as "Mysterious Bowler".

His performance in the said tournament got the National Selectors to observe him further closely, after he became the most successful bowler by taking 68 wickets in nine matches which is also a record in any form of domestic cricket.

Mendis was among seven Sri Lankan cricketers who were injured in the attack, which killed five policemen who guarded the bus.

[10] After becoming the leading wicket-taker in the 2007-08 Premier League with 54 wickets at an average of ten, Mendis was picked in the ODI squad for the series against West Indies.

He announced his arrival on the international stage with three for 39 off 10 overs in this game, and dumbfounded the West Indian batsmen with his range of variations without a perceptible change in his action.

[13] Rob Steen summed up the impact of this initial performance by stating "I have just seen the future of spin bowling – and his name is Ajantha Mendis."

[14] In the second ODI, he bowled four wicketless overs for 21 runs and West Indies won the match and sealed the series 2–0.

[15] During 2008 Asia Cup, Mendis made his mark with match winning bowling performance, which took him to won the player of the series of award as well.

[16] On 6 July 2008, in the Asia cup final against India, Mendis delivered a match winning spell of astonishing figures of 6 for 13.

He claimed his first wicket in his fifth over, bowling Rahul Dravid out with a delivery now christened the carrom ball, that turned from middle and hit off stump.

His match figures of 8 for 132 are the best by any Sri Lankan bowler on Test debut, bettering Kosala Kuruppuarachchi's 7 for 85 against Pakistan in 1985–86.

On 10 October 2008 during first match in Quadrangular Twenty20 Series, Mendis made his Twenty20 debut against Zimbabwe in King City, Canada as the 22nd T20I cap for Sri Lanka.

[20] Ajantha Mendis, playing his eighth ODI, picked up the first six-wicket haul in the Asia Cup final against India in July 2008.

He has also broken fastest 50 wicket record in ODI, previously held by Ajit Agarkar of India for 23 matches.

He smashed a huge six to Johnson Charles for a free hit, through long-on to reach his highest ODI score of unbeaten 21 runs.

[22] In the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 in England, Mendis was the third highest wicket taker, behind Pakistan's Saeed Ajmal and Umar Gul.

[24] The following year, on 18 September 2012 in the opening match of the 2012 ICC World Twenty20 against Zimbabwe, Mendis bettered this record by taking six wickets for eight runs.

[26] Mendis, although classified as slow-medium, bowls a mixture of deliveries, including googlies, off-breaks, top-spinners, flippers and leg-breaks, as well as the carrom ball, released with a flick of his middle finger.

The veteran West Indies cricket writer Tony Becca wrote in the Jamaica Gleaner: "Mendis bowls everything.

The Australian Test cricketer and coach Peter Philpott actually predicted the rise of a bowler such as Mendis in a book written in 1973.

Instead of a basic Iverson attack with occasional orthodox off-spin, there is a great future for an accurate off-spinner who produces a difficult to detect leg spinner every now and then.