The spin all-rounder Washington Sundar has opened up on the advice of Riyan Parag to dismiss the opponent batter Jonathan Campbell during the third of the five-match T20I series against Zimbabwe, at the Harare Sports Club.
After clinching the T20 World Cup 2024, getting the better of South Africa, at the Kensington Oval, in Bridgetown, Barbados, India decided to come up with a young team, under the captaincy of Shubman Gill, as they looked to provide international exposure to the young batters and bowlers, who have done well in the Indian Premier League (IPL) for a long time.
Zimbabwe started the series with a victory by 13 runs, where Washington Sundar was left alone in the crease till the end as he failed to take India home with his batting abilities. The tourists made a great comeback in the second game with their aggressive batting performances.
‘It was great for me to execute for the vein’- Washington Sundar
Washington Sundar was making a comeback in the series as he didn’t play a huge role in the IPL 2024, for the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), spending most of his time on the bench.
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He bowled beautifully in both affairs, as the dry slowness and lowness of the surface was helping him so much for the contest. Winning the toss for the game, they decided to bat first expecting the track to get slow later in the afternoon.
The two openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and Abhishek Sharma began their innings quite beautifully as they went after the new ball bowlers from the start, before the hosts realized the right length on the surface and adjusted their plan a little bit.
Jaiswal was in tremendous touch before he got out on 36-runs in 27 balls, at a strike rate of 133.33. with the help of four boundaries and a couple of sixes, while Abhishek Sharma couldn’t do much for his 10 runs. Ruturaj Gaikwad played a great windy knock of 49 runs in 28 balls, shouldering on four boundaries and three sixes, at a strike rate of 175, while Gill stood at one end for his sluggish 66-runs in 49 balls.
The bowling of the Indian side was always going to take over the Zimbabwe batting. The 183-ru chase was never going to be easy and it was beyond them when they found themselves struggling at 39/5 in seven overs.
Before the wicket of Jonathan Campbell, Washington Sundar was seen having a chat with the sub-fielder Riyan Parag, who seemed to give him some advice, which the Tamil Nadu player later informed.
‘Just before the ball, Riyan Parag told me that it would be great if he could get a catch because he had come in as a substitute. It was great for me to execute in that vein,’ Washington Sundar expressed at the end of the game.
It was a nice tossed-up ball, that the left-hand batter looked to drive through the off-side, and found himself caught. He finished with figures of 3/15 in his four overs to grab the Man of the Match award. Besides Campbell, he also picked up the wicket of Sikandar Raza- the captain of the Zimbabwe side.
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‘The first wicket was Sikandar Raza. I knew he was going to go big right from the first ball, and I am glad to have gotten him out. Even the last one, I really wanted to take it wide because I knew he was going to look big on the on-side.’ Washington Sundar reflected on the game.
Coming into the post-match presentation ceremony, Sundar spoke about how they were feeling during the partnership that was growing in the middle.
‘It did put a lot of pressure on us and we wanted to execute our plans the best we can to restrict them.’ Washington Sundar concluded. ‘Hopefully, we get to see a lot of places in Zimbabwe and explore more, hopefully we can seal the series on Saturday.’
