Washington Sundar’s father, M Sundar, has lashed out at the Indian cricket team’s tailenders, stating they couldn’t stay on for even a brief while.
The comments come after the 21-year-old Washington, who shared two crucial partnerships with Rishabh Pant (113), and Axar Patel (106), was left stranded on 96 as India finished their first innings at 365.
After Axar’s dismissal in the 114th over, the next two batsmen in Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Siraj fell in the same over to Ben Stokes, and thus, Washington Sundar failed to convert his knock into a century for the second time in the series after remaining unbeaten on 85 in the first Test in Chennai.
Got to feel for Washington Sundar earlier this morning, chasing a first test match century and stranded on 96* 😐
— Charlie Beckett (@Charlie_Beckett) March 6, 2021
“I don’t understand why people are surprised at his batting. I have been hearing. He can face the new ball. But we are ready for whatever the Indian team asks him to do,” his father M. Sundar, who had mixed feelings, told IANS.
“What I am really disappointed about are the tailenders. They couldn’t stay on for even a brief while. Suppose India were playing, needing 10 runs to win, wouldn’t this have been a huge mistake. There are millions of youngsters watching, they shouldn’t learn what the tail-enders did.”
“It is not about technique or skills. It was a matter of courage. England were tired, Stokes was bowling at 123-126. They were not bowling at lethal pace,” he said.
Ravichandran Ashwin, the Man of the Series, was appalled that people are putting Washington Sundar in just a bracket of a bowler.
“It is quite surprising (to see people bracketing him as a bowler). Washy (Washington Sundar) bowled in some of the IPL matches this season. He shot to fame because of his bowling in the powerplay. Quite surprising that people don’t recognise that he is a batsman who can bowl,” said off-spinner R. Ashwin while speaking to the media.
“I am not surprised at his batting because he works really hard at his batting. In fact, we have discussions on how you should bowl more as well. He loves his batting. He is mainly a batsman so I am not surprised at his batting. He is a special batsman,” Ashwin said.
Washington, who hails from Tamil Nadu, had played just 12 first-class matches before his Test debut in the fourth Test against Australia in January. With his performances in the Test series against England, the 21-year-old hopes he is called an allrounder by onlookers in his future cricket assignments.
Feature image courtesy: AFP / Sajjad Hussain
