Colombo [Sri Lanka], August 6 (ANI): All-rounder Washington Sundar came out in defence of the India batters following their dismal show in the ongoing ODI series against Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka are on the cusp of tasting the first bilateral series win against India for the first time since 1997.
After suffering a whitewash in the T20I series, Sri Lanka bounced back in the 50-over format by causing plenty of trouble to the Indian batters.
Spinners have been the main source of trouble for the Indian batters in the first two ODIs. In the first game that ended in a draw, Sri Lanka spinners combined to pick up nine wickets.
In the second game, Jeffrey Vandersay laid out a spin trap that Indian batters couldn’t escape from. His six-wicket haul left India speechless, and skipper Charith Asalanka’s three-fer completely knocked the visitors out of the game.
In the ODIs, no Indian middle order has managed to put up an aggregate of 40. India has solely relied on skipper Rohit Sharma’s blitzkrieg in the opening and Axar Patel’s handy contributions towards the end.
On the eve of the third ODI, Sundar defended the batter’s sub-par performances and said, as quoted from ESPNcricinfo, “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.”
“It’s just a matter of finding a way in their own individual self and trying to get the job done. 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,” he added.
India will look to level the series in the third and final ODI of the series against Sri Lanka in Colombo on Wednesday. (ANI)
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