Legendary Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar has suggested bringing Washington Sundar for the all-important match against Pakistan on Sunday, February 15 at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. Sundar has not featured in the first two matches of the tournament so far as India have opted for Varun Chakravarthy and Axar Patel as the two spinners in the side.
However, with the R Premadasa Stadium expected to offer significant help to the spinners, Gavaskar suggested adding another spinner to the line-up by bringing in Washington Sundar in place of Arshdeep Singh. The left-handed seamer has started in both matches so far and has conceded three wickets.
“I would also say that if the pitch assists spin, I would prefer the Indian team to open the bowling with Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah and include Washington Sundar in the XI. Washington Sundar can spin the balls and is also a left-handed batsman who can score runs coming at number eight. So I would like the team management to assess the pitch and conditions carefully before finalizing the India game,” A Gaajskar told XI today.
Will Usman Tariq trouble India?
The former batsman also played down the threat of Pakistan’s spin attackwith India playing against Abrar Ahmed earlier while Pakistan batsmen were not troubled by Usman Tariq’s unique action during practice sessions.
“The Indian team has played against Abrar in previous matches so they didn’t face too much trouble against him. Usman Tariq is new and I just heard that even the Pakistani batsmen who played didn’t seem to face much trouble either. I also don’t think there will be too much trouble. But if the ball starts spinning, it can disrupt any batsman,” he added.
Tariq’s unusual bowling action has become the talk of the cricket fraternitywith the off-spinner possessing a remarkably wider release point than most bowlers. Ahead of the decider, Indian batsman Ishan Kishan had already shared his thoughts on how to counter the enigmatic tweaker, stating that the Indian batsmen would simply focus on the ball and try to hit it if it lands in their slot.
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Issued by:
Rishabh Beniwal
Published on:
February 13, 2026