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Clutch In Chaos: Washington Sundar’s Miracle Scripts In India’s Test Crises

Kaushik Kashyap

Washington Sundar. [Source - BCCI/x.com]Washington Sundar. [Source - BCCI/x.com]

When the dust settles on yet another Test classic, it is Washington Sundar who stands tall once again, the calm in the chaos. In Manchester 2025, with India on the edge of defeat against England, Sundar scripted his greatest act yet a maiden Test century forged in fire, when all seemed lost.

It was not just a hundred, it was a message. India has found its ultimate clutch performer with the bat in Test cricket for years to come. The 25-year-old stands tall under pressure, not with flashy drives or big hits, but with grit and resilience. When India breaks, Sundar builds, brick by brick and run by run.

From Gabba to Manchester; The Hero India Never Saw Coming

Washington Sundar for India. [Source - @johns/BCCI/x.com]Washington Sundar for India. [Source - @johns/BCCI/x.com]

Sundar’s legend in crisis did not begin today. It began at the unlikeliest theatre, the Gabba, 2021. With India gutted by injury and the series on the line, he walked in as a stand-in and stitched a game-turning 1st inning stand with Shardul Thakur. And who can forget that pull shot to Cummins. It was bold, audacious and classic Sundar.

That knock made the cricketing world take notice. A few weeks later, in Ahmedabad against England, India needed a win to qualify for the World Test Championship final. They were trailing significantly in the first innings when Sundar, now a known crisis man, joined Rishabh Pant to steer India into control again. Under pressure, he did not just survive, he took over, unbeaten and unshaken.

Three years down the line, with no Test cricket behind him, Sundar returned in the home season and then came the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne, 2024. Three years after his Ahmedabad heroics and a long Test exile, Sundar came clutch once again, joining Nitish Kumar Reddy to save India from embarrassment.

Even though India went on to lose that game at the ‘G’, it was clear Sundar was no longer just floating in at No. 8, he had become the backbone when everything else broke. Now, in Manchester, he has etched his name permanently into India’s Test folklore with a knock of a lifetime when it mattered most.

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Washington Sundar in Manchester Test. [Source - BCCI/x.com]Washington Sundar in Manchester Test. [Source - BCCI/x.com]

Sundar’s maiden Test century came when India had lost half their side for peanuts, with the top four gone, an injured Rishabh Pant in the hut, and the team still trailing by over a hundred. England were on fire, the crowd roaring, and yet Sundar stood unmoved.

A blend of classical elegance and icy temperament, Sundar’s knock was a counterattack wrapped in defiance. His calm silenced the storm around him. And alongside Ravindra Jadeja, he mounted a wall of resistance that sent England into oblivion, if only for a while, in a battle already slipping away.

For years, India has longed for a lower-order batter who does not just hang around, but believes. In Washington Sundar, they have found something even better, a player who thrives when hope dies, who turns ruins into redemption. And the best part? He is just getting started.