For Washington Sundar, hard work and focus pay off to achieve 'ultimate dream'

12/12/2017

TNPL

Washington Sundar has stated that a strong belief in his game and working on his fitness has culminated in helping him get the India blazer. Having shared a dressing room with MS Dhoni in the IPL, Sundar revealed that he wasn’t overawed by being in the team or being intimidated by any players.

Sundar’s has been a meteoric rise on the Indian cricketing circuit. The former India Under-19 all-rounder was a revelation for the Rising Pune Supergiant in 2017 IPL, conceding runs at just 6.16 per over with his off-spin and taking eight wickets in the process. Washington’s good show earned him a spot in India’s T20I side for the three matches against Sri Lanka that will take place later in the month. Then, once Kedar Jadhav got injured ahead of the first ODI, the 18-year-old got a call-up for the ODI side and understandably, he is very proud.

"For any cricketer, playing for India is the ultimate dream. As an 18-year-old, I have got the opportunity to play for India and it is a great feeling. I trust a lot in my preparation and it has paid off," said the Tamil Nadu all-rounder in the post-match press conference.

"I went back, prepared a lot, trained a lot on aspects, where I needed to. It paid off. I started bowling more and spent extra time on my batting. And fitness also as you know it has become a very important aspect of this Indian team.”

After the IPL, he has had a good run in the domestic cricket as well, performing in the Duleep Trophy and was one of the few positives in Tamil Nadu’s disappointing Ranji Trophy 2017-18 campaign. He finished with 315 runs at 39.37 including a century and a fifty and 12 wickets, but that was not sufficient to earn him a place in the final XI in the first ODI. While Washington said that he had no idea if he would feature in the XI or not, he was clear about what his role would be if he got the opportunity.

“Definitely I need to be ready to bowl ten overs of my off-spin and should be ready to contribute with the bat, no matter what position our team is in. I need to be ready to contribute, no matter where I’m going to play. I want to bat wherever my team wants me to bat. That is the kind of batsman I want to be talked of. I should be able to fill in the boots the management is looking to, and I hope I will be able to do that."

Washington could have been a part of the side even earlier, when New Zealand came to India for a short limited-overs series in October, but he failed the yo-yo test that has become mandatory to get into the team. He said that in the past few weeks, he had focused heavily on training to get picked for the National team.

“For any cricketer, playing for India is the utmost dream right from the beginning. And for me to have gotten the opportunity at the age of 18 is a great feeling,” he added. “I’m very happy about it, and yes, I’ve prepared a lot for this. I trust in my preparation a lot and I think it has paid off. All I have to do is go there and perform and win the game for my country.”

Washington had already shared the dressing room with players like Dhoni in the Pune dressing room and that helped him get away with the jitters that haunt all newcomers.

“It was very good, honestly. It is my fourth day, and I didn’t feel like I was a very, very new part of the team. I knew a lot of players, Mahi Bhai was here and I played with him in the last IPL. They all made me feel one of the guys and I’m really feeling good being part of this Indian set-up.”

In the first ODI in Dharamsala, India might actually have got below 50 had MS Dhoni decided to bring his pressure-defying mindset to the fore and his innings made sure that India got away with the total humiliation of scoring the all-time lowest total.

“In India, you do see a lot of wickets like this. In a year, you get to play two games on similar tracks (like the one in Dharamsala). We’ve all played a fair amount of cricket in such conditions. I think the way Mahi bhai batted was really good. He sort of wanted to counter-attack their bowling, and one or two batsmen with him would have made a difference of 60-70 runs. If we had got that many, I don’t think the Sri Lankan batsmen would have come out and batted the way they did when they came out. It would have been difficult.”

Cricket FootBall Kabaddi
Basketball Hockey
SportsCafe

Get updates! Follow us on

Open all