Washington Sundar was the surprise man of the series in the Nidahas T20I Trophy in 2018 at the age of 18 (File Photo/AP)Washington Sundar, 19, is the youngest member in the India squad which will take on West Indies in a two-match T20I series about to begin next week. He is one of four spinners – with Rahul Chahar, Krunal Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja being the others – who Virat Kohli will have at his disposal in the T20Is, the first of which is on August 3. With Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal having been dropped, these four spinners would jostle to stake their claim in India’s plans for next year’s World T20.
However, Sundar says he is not bothered by the pressure such high stakes bring and is instead trying to focus on the present. Speaking to TOI, he said, “It is an amazing opportunity to be playing for India at such a young age. But the moment I think about the competition and start expecting too much, it makes things harder. I just have to focus on the present and work on my skills in practice every day.”
Sundar was the surprise man of the series in the Nidahas T20I Trophy in 2018 at the age of 18 and so is not entirely a newcomer to the squad. He was also part of the India A team which beat West Indies A in an unofficial ODI series earlier this month.
“The India A tour went really well for me both in terms of building up confidence and getting some game-time, especially after the break I had last year due to injury. I got to play against some quality opposition. The conditions and the players I encountered were very different to what I am used to,” he said.
