The Indian all-rounder Washington Sundar opened up about his conversations with Ravichandran Ashwin before the spinner announced his international retirement.
Ashwin announced his retirement from international cricket by the end of the third test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy. Sundar who many believe is the spin legend’s successor in India’s test setup, opened up on his conversation with the senior pro during and before the Border Gavaskar Trophy.
Ashwin ended his career with an impressive tally of 765 wickets, but he was not able to secure a permanent place in India’s playing Xl during overseas tests. Ashwin was left out of the Playing Xl in the series opener at Perth, with Sundar preferred as a spinner.
Ravichandran Ashwin lost his place in Brisbane this time Ravindra Jadeja is playing ahead of him at The Gabba, thus summing up a musical chair of sorts.
“Preparation is always there, no matter if I am playing the game or when I don’t know whether I will play. Preparation is there for us to do every day.”
“It’s like bread and butter for us. Obviously, [I’ve] been having a lot of conversations about Ash, especially regarding the conditions in Australia. It gave me a lot of insights. He has come here multiple times.”
“This was his 5th tour or something with the red ball. So yes, we spoke a lot even before coming into this tour. Definitely, having someone of his calibre and experience to share a lot of knowledge and information about Australia – a big tour – certainly helped me,” said Sundar.
Sundar was back in India’s Playing Xl for Boxing day clash, replacing Shubman Gill as India went ahead with two spinner in him and Ravindra Jadeja and a third all-rounder in the form of Nitish Reddy.
Sundar was introduced after 20 overs and picked 1/49 including the wicket of a Marnus Labuschagne.
“Isn’t it amazing that the team wants me to do really well in all three aspects of the game. That’s a great opportunity for me. It will be very important to do whatever the team requires. No matter which situation of the game I get to be in, it’s just about being out there, putting in the right energy and getting things done for the team,” he said.
“We were in a great position to get big runs but we will still come back and continue to fight tomorrow morning. The energy is very good in the dressing room, we are all positive. There is a long time in the game as well, so there is still three days, lot of overs to play, so it will just be about us trying to fight really hard and get things done for the team.”
India is currently batting with Nitish Reddy and Washington Sundar at crease avoided follow on in 4th AUS vs IND test at Melbourne.
India and Australia secured one victory each in the Perth and Adelaide test while the Gabba test resulted in a tie. The visitors secured a 295-run victory in Perth while Australia secured a 10 wicket victory in Adelaide.
