India’s bowler Washington Sundar, right, bowls during the T20 cricket match against Zimbabwe at Harare Sports club, Saturday, July 6, 2024.AP/PTI
Indian off-spinner Washington Sundar picked up three wickets in the third T20I between India and Zimbabwe on Wednesday. After the game 24-year-old revealed his conversation with Riyan Parag before Sundar scalped his second wicket, Johnathan Campbell.
“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,” Sundar would reveal after the game.
It was a tossed-up delivery from Sundar which left-handed Campbell looked to drive through off-side however, caught the outside edge and the ball went straight to substitute fielder Parag at slip.
Wicket of Campbell was the second one of the over for Sundar. He picked Zimbabwe skipper Sikandar Raza off the second ball caught at the boundary by Rinku Singh. Two wickets in the over broke the back of the chase for Zimbabwe.
“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,” Sundar explained.
The off-spinner would also come back later in the 17th over to pick up Clive Madande who along with Dion Myers stitched a 77-run partnership and were giving Zimbabwe a glimmer of hope chasing 183 runs.
“It did put a lot of pressure on us and we wanted to execute our plans the best we can to restrict them,” Sundar acknowledged.
Wickets from Sundar at crucial junctures of the game earned him the Player Of the Match award. His spell gave India a 2-1 lead in the five-match T20I series.
“It did put a lot of pressure on us and we wanted to execute our plans the best we can to restrict them,” Sundar concluded.
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