Guwahati: In six Tests now under Gautam Gambhir as head coach, Washington Sundar (48) has batted at five different positions—3, 5, 7, 8 and 9—and averaged 54. This phase has seen him score a second innings hundred at the drawn Manchester Test when India were 222/4 facing a first innings deficit of 311, a 46-ball 53 in the Oval Test that India won by six runs, bat out 92 balls in the second innings on a tricky pitch at Eden Gardens, and miss out on a fifty by just two runs here. Washington can bat, but do India know where they want him to bat?
It’s a question worth mulling now that it’s becoming increasingly clear that India have a grave batting problem to deal with, especially at home. The coaching staff might frown at the suggestion that the decision to send him one down at Eden Gardens had shades of their T20 strategy of maintaining a left-right batting combination, but it worked nevertheless.
To go back on that decision at the Guwahati Test was surprising but understandable, given India would be wanting a specialised batter to eventually occupy that spot. The pitch and the scenario called for a mature, stabilising innings from Sai Sudharsan but he failed. Washington though keeps on scoring.
Around the time when it seemed that pretty much everything had been written about India’s batting frailty, the stand between Washington and Kuldeep Yadav ironically underscored it all over again.
“The fight and grit we saw from Washington Sundar and Kuldeep Yadav in the lower order was missing from the top order, which was needed on a pitch like this,” Anil Kumble was quoted as saying on JioStar.
While Yadav did drive home the point that he could bat by facing 134 balls, it was Washington who kept India afloat with his technique and tempered aggression with so much clarity that it begs the question if India need to rethink how to utilise his batting on a more permanent basis, perhaps at a middle-order position? Washington doesn’t mind the frequent changes though.
“Not at all. Honestly, I really want to be the cricketer who steps up whenever the team requires and wherever the team wants me to bat and bowl. I have got to be ready and get things done for the team. That is the kind of mindset I am in,” said Washington in Monday’s post-day press conference. “No matter what situation I am in, it is very exciting for me that way. I also get to play different roles. I don’t think many get that opportunity. So, it is only exciting,”
Would he be happier batting at No 3?
“I would say I am the happiest to bat wherever the team wants me to bat. That way, it is a lot more exciting. This is a team game.”
Washington said what he was expected to say, after batting how he knows to bat. Read between the lines though and there is something definitely wrong in how India are trying to harness his potential. To drop Washington below Nitish Kumar Reddy who neither bowled much nor could stand up to the short pitched bowling of Marco Jansen highlights the muddled thinking that is hindering India’s batting prospect. That too when everyone else was finding ways to get out on a pitch that was probably at its best for scoring.
“Not many days will you get to bat on such tracks, especially in India,” said Washington. “Honestly, it is a true wicket. If you spend time there, runs are (there) for the taking. You can’t really contain runs for a very long period of time. I think it was just a good wicket.”
Answering the pitch query was probably the only time Washington wasn’t diplomatic during the interaction. There’s no doubt however that in the piling rubble of these back-to-back capitulations at Kolkata and Guwahati, Washington has stood out due to his resilience, application and technique on two very extreme pitches. To not acknowledge that with a more stable position would not only be unfair to Washington, but probably also hinder the rebuilding of the Test team after a trying transition.
