Washington Sundar Happy That ‘Practice Sessions in Past 6-8 Months Has Worked in the Middle’

Washington Sundar made his international debut at the age of 18 in an ODI against Sri Lanka in Mohali in December 2017. Since then, after a few ups and downs, he has now become a regular selection in India’s limited overs team.

Through his steady off-spin and some useful finishing touches with the bat, Washington provides a distinct variation in the wardrobe of spin all-rounders in the Indian team.

Ahead of the ODIs against Australia, the all-rounder in an exclusive interview with IANS revealed that the work he has done in practice sessions over the last six-eight months has come in handy during the matches and that makes him feel happy.

Excerpts from the interview:

What are the learnings for you from the white ball matches you played for India earlier this year?

Playing a lot of games is great because it will give you a lot to learn and you will get to learn a lot about different aspects of the game, as well as improve your knowledge of the game.

So, a lot has happened in the last few months – wherever I felt I could do a little better, I have been trying to execute in practice sessions and trying to get one per cent better every single day in the game. It is a process and I will keep pushing myself to get better in every aspect of the game.

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You have been very in touch with the bat of late. Can you talk about the improvements you have made to get good results in matches for India?

It is all because of hard work and doing those things in specific ways and in the right way. I think it is important to understand your game and also have enough options because when you are out in the middle, you should have enough options and also have enough knowledge about your game.

It’s something I’ve gotten better at. One thing that makes me feel really happy is that the work that I have done in practice sessions in the last six-eight months has come in handy in the middle while playing matches. This is something I am very happy about as it motivates me to work even harder in practice sessions.

As an off-spin all-rounder, how much do you value matchups in T20 cricket and how much should one read into it?

I think match-ups are something you should be well aware of, as there are some stats and records to show; It gives you some sort of information about what has happened in the past. It’s important to have some thoughts to put it in the back of your mind. But at the same time, it is very important to understand your own game and execute your skill set to your abilities and strengths.

This is something that is more important and the information about what happened in the past and all that is really important. But what has worked for you personally in the past in terms of your strengths and abilities is something that should be on top before anything else, especially in critical situations I think.

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You are playing a lot in ODIs and T20s. So, how do you make adjustments to your game to adapt to the different formats?

I think you go into every practice session with that mindset. You can play one-day games after a few days and what kind of mindset do you have before the game and how do you prepare yourself before a particular game. I think preparation and mindset matter a lot because there is a lot of cricket being played these days.

Then switching between formats becomes very important. But I feel more than anything, it is the mindset and how you prepare yourself before every single game, be it any format. So, I believe that mindset is something that really matters a lot.

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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)