Washington Sundar relishes fairy tale Test debut as Gabba tests depth of India's resources

If any cricket fan or even Washington Sundar was told before the start of the test series against Australia that he would be the sole spinner for India in a winner takes all game at the Gabba, they would have burst out laughing on the extent of far-fetched dream.

But that far-fetched dream is now a reality as the off-spinner has become the latest beneficiary of the resource depletion in the Indian team as the long and gruelling tour of Australia is nearing its end.

Such has been the exhaustion of Indian resources due to injuries that all of the four first-choice pacers for the team along with the famous spin twins of Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin have been knocked out of the final Test of the series where everything is at stake.

For off-spinner Sundar, the debut did not come easy and it should not have been anyway, had India could not be tempted to see him as a like for like replacement of Jadeja due to his potency with the bat. 

He was stayed back in Australia by the team management to facilitate the batsmen in net sessions, and no one can imagine that for a sport as competitive as Cricket where many of his teammates have faced fractures and pain in the body against a raging pace attack, only staying in the dressing room will matter at the end of the day.

Sundar can’t thank enough the team management for keeping him together with the team, and he reckoned that the move helped him in getting better, both with the bat and the ball. He described the hours leading up to his Test debut as special hours of his life and dedicated all his success to his family.

"I thank the team management for keeping me through the Test series. I felt it would really help me get better with my skill level -- both in my batting and my bowling with the kind of facilities you get here. The last 24 hours have been amazing for me. The team management asked me to be ready to play. I think I should dedicate this to my family as they sacrificed a lot. Without their support, it would have been impossible for me to play Test cricket, especially make debut in a place like Australia," Washington said in the virtual press conference after the end of the first day’s play in Brisbane.

Sundar last played in a first-class match in the Indian domestic cricket way back in 2017 and there must have been doubts on his bowling abilities over a longer period of time given all he has played in his recent past is T20 cricket. But, Sundar takes this as a challenge and relishes the prospect of bowling long spells where he could set up batsmen and layout plans to dismiss batsmen like he did today by dismissing Steve Smith as his first Test wicket.

"Like any bowler, I love bowling a lot of overs. It's just so much fun to bowl a lot of overs. Give me 20, 30, 40 or 50 overs. We had some plans going for Steve Smith and (Marnus) Labuschagne and I am very glad they worked. The first wicket definitely felt good,” Washington said.

It looked like an innocuous delivery pitched on the leg stump but Smith’s casual execution on a nudge towards the keg side handed Washington his maiden wicket, but he believes that plan laid out by Ashwin in the Tests leading up to his debut paved the way for him to attack Smith on that line.

"We did have some plans for Smith and it's a different game altogether. Last game was different, conditions were different and I had to bowl good balls over and over again. It happened (the dismissal) and it's great.”

India fielded a bowling attack with experience of only four Tests between them, but Washington said that they are competitive enough to shine on the big stage. He heaped praise on his mate from the home state of Tamil Nadu and a fellow debutant T Natarajan and said that he bought his dimension to the Indian attack to bring the team back in the game with the wickets of set batsmen in Marnus Labuschagne and Matthew Wade.

"If you see everyone, they have all done well at the first-class level. More than experience, guys were all excited. Nattu (T Natarajan) bowled really well and he brought his value to the team. “Nattu (Natarajan) bowled well. He brought us back in the game. (Matthew) Wade and Marnus (Labuschagne) had a 120 odd-run partnership and, he took both of them out. It feels good to make my debut alongside him.”

Washington Sundar was rated just a slow bowler by Fox commentators Shane Warne and Mark Vaugh for his inability to spin the ball and it is only true that he would never have played at the Gabba or in near future even in the absence of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja as there are players waiting in the wings to spin the ball and also their career, but what worked well for Sundar is that he was at the right place, at a right time and he is going to cherish every bit of his Test debut in a hard to predict Test career.

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