SL vs Ind, 3rd ODI – Washington Sundar – ‘We need to put our hands up and win those critical situations’

India-Sri Lanka bilateral series where India is the team trying to prove itself? Wow. It’s been a while. In fact, India have never lost a bilateral series between these teams since 1997.

Their batting was boosted by Rohit Sharma’s aggressiveness in the powerplay, with Axar Patel also producing valuable runs from number 7.

“We’re good spin players,” Washington said the night before Game 3. The first two matches were played in very friendly grounds, and more of the same are expected on Wednesday.

“We have always played on these kind of pitches, at home, even in Test matches. In domestic cricket we play a lot of matches with such wickets. Many of our players have done very well especially in the middle. especially batting against spin.

“It’s a matter of finding a way for each individual, and trying to get the job done. Everyone knows it’s a challenging wicket. The Indian team has always been a place where everyone puts their hands up, especially when a challenge comes up.”

Where Sri Lanka was poor in the World Cup last year and failed to enter the Champions Trophy next year, in India, this is a preparation for that competition. There is an opportunity given India against playing in Pakistan, that many of their matches may be shifted to Sri Lanka – Khettarama is the most likely venue if that happens.

That could mean more track changes in the future, next February and March. Another place for Indian games is the UAE, where, again, spin may play an important role.

Part of India’s problems in this series has been their inability to prevent Sri Lanka’s lower order batsmen – especially Dunith Welllage – from putting together important partnerships in the last 10 overs.

“We’d like to get them out by 200 or less,” Washington said. “We’ve had them in that situation in both games. With big tournaments coming up, we’re going to be in the same situation, and it’s our chance to find a way to get the job done in tough situations. We just need to put our hands up and win those tough situations.”

On the batting front, India’s challenge has been to deal with Sri Lanka’s unconventional attack. The hosts also have a finger spinner (Kamindu Mendis) who can bowl either arm – and the likes of mystery spinner Akila Dananjaya, who bowls a combination of offbreaks, googlies, and legbreaks. India tried to counter this by trying to keep the left-arm combination at the crease through this series, sending left-arm spinner Washington to bat at number 4 alongside Virat Kohli, in the last game. So far, the strategy has not been fully implemented.

Washington said coach Gautam Gambhir was speaking as the team wanted to sharpen their strategy against spin.

“There were many ideas that came up [Gambhir]. He is a top spin player. We have always seen him do very well on such wickets, especially against quality spin-bowling. That’s one of the reasons we came out here today to practice, to try to figure out how to do those little things efficiently. We are really ready to be at the top of the game in every aspect tomorrow.”