"There has been a lot of input from him" - Washington Sundar opens up on Gautam Gambhir's impact since taking over as head coach
Team India's bowling all-rounder Washington Sundar has asserted that new head coach Gautam Gambhir has made an instant impact since joining the Men in the Blue as the new head coach. Sundar stated that Gambhir has been giving plenty of inputs regarding small but crucial tactical changes.
Gambhir has taken over from batting legend Rahul Dravid as Team India's new head coach. His stint with the Indian team began with a thumping 3-0 win in the T20I series against Sri Lanka. India are, however, 1-0 down in the three-match ODI series. They tied the first game, while Sri Lanka won the second by 32 runs.
The third and final one-dayer of the series will be played at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Wednesday, August 7. Speaking at a press conference ahead of the game, Sundar shared his views on the kind of impact Gambhir has had as a coach since joining the team. He was quoted as saying in a PTI report:
"There has been a lot of input from him. He is a high-quality player of spin. We have always seen him putting up great performance, especially in such wickets against quality spin."
"That is one of the reasons we came out here today to practice and try and find a way and try and do those small little changes tactically and be prepared and ready for tomorrow's game and be really on top of our game in all aspects," Sundar added.
Talking about his own game with the ball in hand, the 24-year-old admitted that he has made certain tweaks to his bowling intending to prove effective.
"I am someone who works hard and tries to find ways to be successful and to be an asset to the team. That way when I was thinking about my bowling, I had to do certain things, slightly different, not huge changes, but just to add a couple of more things and do certain things more often and more efficiently," the off-spinner stated.
Sundar was Player of the Match for his fantastic all-round effort in the third T20I in Pallekele, a game which India won in the Super Over. He also claimed 3-30 in the second one-dayer even as the Men in Blue went on to lose the contest.
"It's important for me to do well with the bat" - Sundar
While Sundar is primarily looked at as a bowling all-rounder, the Tamil Nadu cricketer stated that he is keen on contributing with the willow in hand whenever the opportunity comes his way.
"It's important for me to do well with the bat and contribute to team success and mainly win games, especially with the bat whenever I get an opportunity. I feel like I had two good opportunities in this series already and yes, really looking forward to get the job done for the team, especially with the bat, especially when we're chasing and the chips are down," he commented in the same interview.
Sundar has notched up three half-centuries in his Test career and one each in the ODI and T20I formats.