Balapuwaduge Kusal Gimhan Mendis, generally known as Kusal Mendis is a professional Sri Lankan cricketer who plays as a top-order batter in all forms of the game. He only played sixteen first-class matches before playing for the national side. In November 2017, he was named the One Day International (ODI) batsman of the year for the 2016-17 season at Sri Lanka Cricket's annual awards. Mendis captained Sri Lanka's squad for the 2014 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup. He was the 132nd Test player for Sri Lanka, gaining his cap during the second Test of Sobers-Tissera Trophy. He made his Test debut in 2nd Test of West Indies tour of Sri Lanka 2015, scoring 13 runs in the first innings and 39 runs in second innings.

Mendis was named in the Sri Lanka squad for the tour of England, and in the first Test he scored a duck in the first innings, but in the second innings he scored his maiden test half-century with 53 runs. Mendis made his One Day International (ODI) debut against Ireland on 16 June 2016, scoring his maiden ODI fifty. Mendis made his Twenty20 International (T20I) debut for Sri Lanka against England on 5 July 2016 in the same tour.