Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy | Washington Sundar proves his bowling mettle

“Definitely, one of the best days with the ball for me, especially outside of India... There are different roles thrown at me in different passages of play and I always look forward to them,” said a delighted Washington.

When India chose to play Washington Sundar ahead of Kuldeep Yadav for the second Test against England in Birmingham, the decision was called ‘defensive’ by a majority of the critics. The logic behind the management’s idea was Sundar’s superior batting skills as compared to Kuldeep. The think-tank was right, but the critics saw a flaw in that strategy.

It’s a no-brainer that to win Test matches, a team needs to pick 20 wickets, and given how batting friendly the pitch was in the season-opening game at Leeds and the forecast of a similar surface in Edgbaston, pundits felt playing left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep — a rarity in world cricket — would give India a better chance of cleaning up England twice.

In a way, both parties were right, but the only person who could settle this argument was Washington himself. And in the two Tests the 25-year-old off-spinning all-rounder — who has intentionally or unintentionally followed a path similar to his illustrious Tamil Nadu colleague R Ashwin — has played, he has sort of won the argument that not only is he a solid batter but a good bowler capable of producing game-changing spells.

In the Birmingham game, his gritty 42 off 103 balls while coming in at No. 8 and the 144-run stand with skipper Shubman Gill ensured India posted a huge 587 that set them on course for a massive 336-run win. He fluffed his lines on the bowling front, bagging just one wicket in the game, but with Mohammed Siraj and Akash Deep stealing the show, others just had to play support acts.

Sluggish pitch

At Lord’s, on a sluggish pitch similar to his home Chepauk track, Washington revelled, bringing all his off-spinning craft to the fore, witnessed in the New Zealand series at home last year where he bagged 16 wickets in two Tests, a performance that sadly got buried because of India’s historic 3-0 drubbing. In the second innings, as England were trying to up the tempo on a testing surface, Washington first bowled Joe Root — England’s best player of spin —outfoxing the former skipper who missed a sweep shot. His dismissal of Jamie Smith was a ripper, the ball pitching, drifting away and rattling the wicketkeeper’s stumps. Then came the big fish, Ben Stokes. The skipper, attempting a slog-sweep, was caught off-guard by a faster one from Sundar, the stumps lying in wreck again. Sundar finished the innings 4/22, his best bowling performance abroad in 11 appearances. What more, he even bettered Ashwin, whose best show in an innings in England is 4/62.

“Definitely, one of the best days with the ball for me, especially outside of India. But yes, definitely had some solid plans coming into this Test match and really wanted to execute them both in the first and second innings. There are different roles thrown at me in different passages of play and I always look forward to them,” said a delighted Washington. 

The second innings display from Washington showed the enormous potential he possesses. Having started his cricketing journey as a batter before switching tracks to off-spin just like Ashwin, Washington, although still a work in progress, has the aptitude and attitude to become a potent spinner. Where Washington excels now is in producing subtle changes in lines and lengths. Standing at 6’1’’, Washington can also extract bounce and trouble the batters constantly on helpful pitches.

What Washington needs to refine is guile -- dip and drifts -- and adding varieties. Ashwin excelled at those, and whenever he came to bowl, especially at home, was like watching a magician at work. Sundar is still at the beginning of his career and has time on his hands to develop and sharpen his craft.

Ravindra Jadeja has entered the twilight zone, and Sundar is being groomed to lead India’s spin attack along with Kuldeep and Axar Patel. If his performances keep rising, he could become the face of it.