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After giving a fantastic bowling performance with figures of 4/22 and playing a key role in bundling out England for 192 runs in their second innings of the Lord's Test, Washington Sundar went on to make a bold claim. The all-rounder confidently remarked that the visitors will record a victory at Lord's and even predicted that they will reach the target by the beginning of the second session.
"Probably just after lunch. Yeah, I mean, the position that we are in right now, we would definitely take it. And probably for one, at Stumps today would have been ideal. Yes, the way we bowled. All the fast bowlers, in particular, the way they came out today and kept the pressure going on throughout the day was amazing," Sundar told broadcasters after the end of Day 4.
Sundar was forced to eat his words by the England team
However, Sundar's prediction ended up going horribly wrong as India failed to chase down the target of 193 and got bundled ouy for 170, losing the match by 22 runs. England were all over the Men in Blue in the first session and picked up the big wickets of Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul and Washington Sundar before heading into the break.
Though the likes of Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj tried really hard to get India over the finsh line, it was the hosts who eveentually came out on top thanks to a fantastic bowling effort. The victory saw them take a valuable 2-1 lead in the series heading into the fourth Test at Old Trafford.
Reacting to Sundar's claim, England wicketkeeper-batter Jos Buttler felt that the Indian all-rounder's remarks fired up the Three Lions and acted as great motivation for them to snatch victory from the visitors. He also pointed out that England head coach Brendon McCullum had made a rare gesture towards the bowlers when Sundar had taken the crease to bat on Day 5.
“Has he actually said that? Washington Sundar's interview where he says about, you know, when India win tomorrow, when we go 2-1 up. And I thought, I wonder if he's just sort of, you know, got his words out wrong, you know, hopefully we'll win. But it was the proper, you know, incredible confidence. Yeah, we're going to win. And it's always one of those moments where you're like, you don't miss a thing, do you, in this day and age? Someone will have heard about that in the dressing room. It's almost like instead of anyone having to say anything this morning for England you could have just played that interview and that would have got people so fired up,” Buttler said on a YouTube show.
“There's a little clip of when Washington came out to bat and McCullum over the balcony sort of you know telling everyone to raise it, it's the guy who's been chirping. You set yourself up, don't you? It's horrible. But you're like, no, everyone's all over me. I could have just come out here and tried to, you know, have a good game and try my best. But now everyone knows that what I've said in the media last night, and this is going to be, everyone's after me. Even McCullum, who's possibly the only time he didn't have his feet up. He's leant forward to say, come on. Let's ramp it up for this guy,” he added.
Sundar also failed to contribute anything towards India's run-chase of 193 and was dismissed for a 4-ball duck by Jofra Archer, who took a fantastic one-handed catch to get rid of the left-hander. The wicket left India reeling on 82/7 and it gave Archer his third scalp of the innings. Meanwhile, it has now become very important for Shubman Gill & Co. to win the fourth match of the series in Manchester as if England emerge victorious there as well, they will go on to seal the series even before playing the fifth game.
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