NEW DELHI: With Ravindra Jadeja bidding adieu to T20Is post the World Cup triumph in June, it means that a spot for an all-rounder who bowls spin in the Indian T20I set-up is open.
With Axar Patel a sure-shot certainty for India’s title defence in 2026, the two-year cycle presents a good chance for off-spin all-rounder Washington Sundar to become a regular fixture and fill up the void left by Jadeja’s absence.
In India’s 4-1 series win over Zimbabwe earlier this month, Washington, who made his T20I debut in 2017, was named Player of the Series after picking eight scalps across all five games at an economy rate of 5.17 – where his control over lengths and forcing batters to commit errors stood out.
The next challenge in Washington’s quest to be a regular person in India’s T20I scheme of things is the white-ball tour of Sri Lanka, starting with T20Is at Pallekele on Saturday. Despite Axar coming back and leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi retaining his place in the squad, Venkatapathy Raju, the former India left-arm spinner, believes Washington should still walk into the playing eleven for Saturday’s game.
“It goes back to the 90s. We had me, Anil Kumble, and Rajesh Chauhan. We had great success playing in India against all the good teams. So I think that's the actual spin bowling variety we've been looking for a long time. After Ashwin, we were missing an off-spinner. Washington Sundar is a brilliant all-rounder in white-ball cricket.”
“Because of injuries, he was not part of the team (consistently). Otherwise, I think he should be walking in straight into the playing eleven, as he’s a capable batter also. Now, it's covered up everything. You've got a brilliant variety now, and this is what the Indian team has been doing for a long time, ” says Raju in an exclusive conversation with IANS, facilitated by Sony Sports Network.
In IPL 2024, Washington’s game time was just two matches for Sunrisers Hyderabad, followed by playing a few matches for Globe Trotters in the TNCA League’s First Division league. Raju, who served as a national selector, wishes to see Washington play more games to settle into a nice playing rhythm.
“It's (the Sri Lanka series) a great opportunity ahead of the next World Cup, and he should be a permanent member here in all the bilateral series or whatever T20Is they will be playing from now on. If he's fit, he should be a regular spinner because after Ashwin, you don't find any off-spinner.”
“Let alone white-ball cricket, for even red-ball cricket, we hardly find any off-spinner nowadays. So I think that's a great opportunity for him. The only thing I would love to say here is he should play as many matches as possible.”
“Let it be a Ranji Trophy or league game, just to get into that (playing) rhythm because international cricket is totally different, but he's not new to international cricket. Zimbabwe tour might have given him a lot of confidence. The more he plays, the better for him and better for the Indian team.”
Quizzed about the aspects where Washington can look to get better, Raju remarked, “Batting is not a problem. It comes back to bowling because when you're playing as an all-rounder, we know he's a bowling all-rounder, not a batting all-rounder. So that's why he has to play more games. International cricket is not that easy.”
“Nowadays we see a lot of foreign players. They play spin far better than what they were playing before. So you just concentrate on the basics and then have that confidence to just bowl to your strengths.”
“He'll be a very handy bowler because of the height too, apart from his release being good. He can extract that extra bounce and at the moment, he is fit. He should be playing as many matches as possible and then concentrate on his basics - turning the ball, as that extra bounce will always be a best point for it.”
Watch the live coverage of India Tour of Sri Lanka, 7 PM onwards starting on 27th July 2024 LIVE on Sony Sports Ten 5 & Sony Sports Ten 1 in English, Sony Sports Ten 3 in Hindi and Sony Sports Ten 4 channels in Tamil & Telugu.