Washington Sundar's path to becoming an all-rounder

Guwahati: In an era where label-affixing is the in-thing, Washington Sundar looms as an outlier, defying every effort to pigeonhole him. Is he an off-spinner who can bat competently anywhere in a Test line-up? Is he a left-handed batter who can send down more than a few overs of high-class, underrated off-spin? Is he an all-rounder in the making, or is he already one?

Since his dramatic Test debut under interesting circumstances in Brisbane nearly five years back, Washington has seen and done it all. Four wickets and 84 runs (including 62 under immense pressure in the first innings) played a vital role in India’s epochal victory at the Gabba in January 2021, the Tamil Nadu lad only getting a look-in because the team struggled to put out a fit XI on the park. Over the next two months, he made an unbeaten 85 and an unconquered 96, batting at No. 7 and No. 8 respectively, at home against England but for some strange reason not exclusive to Indian cricket, was deemed superfluous for the five-day game for the next three and a half years.

Essentially considered a white-ball specialist until October last year, Washington belatedly earned a top-three position for his state against Delhi, responding with a splendid 152 that earned him a recall for the second Test against New Zealand in Pune. Curiously, he was picked as an off-spinner, and while he justified that selection by comprehensively out-bowling the vastly more pedigreed R Ashwin on his way to 11 wickets for the match, he held his own batting at No. 9 and No. 6 even as the rest crumbled.

Washington immediately supplanted Ashwin as the first-choice Test off-spinner, perhaps inadvertently hastening the latter’s international retirement. Having played four Tests in his first two and half months in his first stint as a Test player, he has figured in 12 of India’s 15 outings since his comeback last October, more than reiterating his value.

In this period, Washington has taken a five-for in an innings and a ten-wicket match haul, produced a stonewalling, match-saving unbeaten maiden century at Old Trafford, smashed an undervalued 46-ball 53 in the second innings at the Oval while adding 39 for the last wicket with Prasidh Krishna (0*) – India’s margin of victory was seven runs – and worked his way up to No. 3 for the Kolkata Test against South Africa. It’s been a remarkable progression for the 26-year-old, who started out as a top-order bat in his formative years until Virat Kohli at Royal Challengers Bangalore (as it was then) began to use him as a specialist Power Play off-spinner.

What has stood out over the last few years is Washington’s poise and composure, and not only with the bat. It’s only in the last year or so that he has started to believe in himself as a Test bowler, one suspects. He isn’t a big turner of the ball but does enough on helpful tracks to keep the batters guessing. And when there isn’t much assistance, he uses his beautiful drift away from the right-handers as a lethal weapon, testing the outside edge and bringing the wicketkeeper and slip into play.

It's as a batter, though, that Washington has forced the connoisseurs to sit up and take notice. To those who have followed his cricket closely over the last decade and more, his success as a Test batter has come as no surprise because they knew what he was made of. For the rest to whom Washington was a bit of an unknown commodity, his maturity, presence, technical expertise and unflagging concentration have been an eye-opener.

Using both his left-handedness and height to his advantage, Washington has shown dexterity against the turning ball and command over the short stuff from the quicker bowlers. One of the iconic images of the 2-1 victory in Australia in 2021, bang in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic, is Washington on one leg, Nataraja-like (ala Kapil Dev), hooking Pat Cummins for six during the tense run-chase at the Gabba. He has shown since, especially in England in the summer, that the ‘Washy pull’ will be a constant in any highlights package.

India have, almost certainly by accident, unearthed a gem at No. 3, a slot occupied by seven individuals in the 18 Tests since Gautam Gambhir took over as head coach. No one else apart from Shubman Gill, who has dropped down to No. 4 since his elevation as captain, has been more impressive at that pivotal position than the lanky left-hander from Chennai. Logic dictates that Washington occupies that slot for the foreseeable future, starting with the second Test here from Saturday.