‘We are quality players of spin’ – Washington Sundar defends batting collapse in ODI series vs Sri Lanka

India’s star cricketer, Washington Sundar, came out in defence of Indian batters following their batting collapse in the first and second ODI series against Sri Lanka. The hosts are on the cusp of tasting their first bilateral series win over India since 1997. After suffering the clean sweep in the T20I series, Charith Asalanka and his men bounced back in the 50-over format by causing plenty of trouble for the Indian batters. Notably, spinners have been the main source of trouble for the Indian batters in the first two ODIs. In the first game, which ended in a draw, the hosts combined to pick up nine wickets.

In the second game, Jeffrey Vandersay laid out a spin trap that Indian batters failed to escape from. The star spinner’s six-wicket haul and captain Charith Asalanka’s three-wickets fully ousted Rohit Sharma and his men out of the game in the second ODI, which bundled them out for 208 runs to lose the match by 32 runs. Notably, no Indian middle-order batter was able to cross the 40-run mark. The side totally relied on skipper Rohit Sharma’s magnificent start and Axar Patel’s handy contributions towards the end of the game.

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We’ve always played on these kinds of pitches, even at home, even in Test matches: Washington Sundar

In the same vein, Washington Sundar was seen defending the batting failures of the Indian cricket team by calling themselves quality players against the spinners. The 24-year-old cricketer said that Team India has experience and has endured the same situation on a plethora of pitches, including in India itself. The star all-rounder is confident that the side will pull off a great win in the third and final ODI in this challenging situation.

“We’re quality players of spin. We’ve always played on these kinds of pitches, even at home, even in Test matches. In domestic cricket we play a lot of games on such wickets. A lot of our players have done really well, especially in the middle order, especially batting against spin. Everyone knows it’s a challenging wicket. The Indian team has always been one where everyone puts their hands up, especially when the challenge arises,” Washington said on the eve of the third match. 

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