India all-rounder Washington Sundar has expressed his admiration for head coach Gautam Gambhir, crediting him for maintaining a calm dressing room throughout the five-match series.
Sundar, who has played nine of his 13 Test matches for India under Gambhir, featured in four of the five Tests against England, scoring 284 runs and taking seven wickets overall. In the Manchester Test, he scored his maiden Test century and played a crucial role alongside Ravindra Jadeja in securing a draw. At Lord’s in the second Test, he claimed a four-wicket haul that triggered England’s batting collapse.
In an interview with Wisden, Sundar spoke about admiring Gambhir’s batting during his IPL days and reflected on what it felt like to bowl against such a successful player.
“He also had No. 5 on the back of his jersey (like me),” Sundar said. “And obviously, he was a left-hander who was extremely elegant. The only thing I didn’t enjoy was bowling to him in the IPL. He was someone who was super successful against me, but he’s an amazing human being. He had so much faith in all of us—that we would fight at all times and win the game. I’m really glad to see him happy at the end of the series.”
The 25-year-old also praised Gambhir’s leadership and Shubman Gill’s captaincy during the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy.
“Credit to them for maintaining such a calm dressing room throughout the series. Their communication was precise and clear about what was expected. Both (Gill and Gambhir) have a lot of belief in their players, and that really helps in the bigger picture,” revealed Sundar.
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