Is Washington Sundar Going To Be the Next Ravindra Jadeja For India?

After winning the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024, the senior player of the Indian national cricket team Ravindra Jadeja announced his retirement from the shorter format of the game along with Indian captain Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. He has represented Men in Blue in 74 matches where he has scored 515 runs with 54 wickets and taken 28 incredible catches in his 15 years of international career from the Indian team. Jadeja is known as one of the sharpest fielders in the Indian team.  He has taken the fitness level of the Indian team to another level with his unbelievable catches and fast running between the wickets despite being 35 years old.

After the retirement of an ace player from T20I, the Indian team is looking for a replacement for a star player who can take the legacy forward. One player who impressed the most is Chennai-born cricketer Washington Sundar. The young Indian all-rounder has been playing in the place of Ravindra Jadeja after his retirement he has been fulfilling his responsibilities of bowling 4 overs of spell while giving fewer runs and scoring runs for the Indian team as a finisher. 

The 24-year-old cricketer received the Player of the Series award after his incredible performance against Zimbabwe in 5 match T20I series where he was the leading wicket-taker from the Indian team by picking a total of 8 wickets in 5 matches with an efficient economy of 5.16 conceding just 93 runs in his 18 overs of the spell. 

After his brilliant performance in the Zimbabwe series, he was selected for the Sri Lanka tour for 3 T20I and 3 ODI, where in the final match of T20I series he showed his batting prowess by scoring quick 25 runs in 18 balls and helping the Indian team to draw, which later was won by Men in Blue through superpowers.

Sundar’s consistent performance has also made him nominated in the list of ICC Player of the Month for July 2024 along with England's Gus Atkinson and Scotland's lethal seamer Charlie Cassell, are the other nominations for the prestigious award.

Irrespective of his brilliant performance for the Indian team, we can’t say that he is going to replace Ravindra Jadeja as he has just started his cricketing career where he needs to learn a lot of things in both departments whether it’s playing in higher strike rate or finding a breakthrough for the team. However, he is among the players who can take India’s all-rounder legacy forward in the coming years.