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The Jadeja-Sundar act in a grand overseas show
They shut out England’s victory push in the Old Trafford Test with the young Sundar making a statement in the draw
Kolkata: If you think draws are boring, this should change your mind a bit. That a side battling back from 0/2 in the first over to losing only two wickets in 142 overs and dictating in the end to share the spoils, defying spirited spells, breaking their opponents’ will, with the conditions and time against them, can be momentous. England know they had this game in their pocket. Till Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar put their foot down, played out two nervy sessions on a rock hard Manchester pitch and bullied the hosts into conceding them individual hundreds.
This was unfinished business for Jadeja, who was stranded at the other end of Lord’s when Mohammed Siraj couldn’t stop the ball from rolling on to his stumps and dislodging the bail. But more for Sundar who didn’t even open his account in that innings. The desperation was real for India with the series on the line, Rishabh Pant doubtful to bat, and just how the first session had left the Test wide open. For Sundar, still considered the nearly man, this was the moment of reckoning.
Not that he didn’t have some in a 12-year Test career. Brisbane 2021 remains etched because of that first innings 62, then the 85 at Chennai, an unbeaten 96 at Ahmedabad, and more recently the fifty at Melbourne. Another country, another Day 5 pitch, and yet again Sundar showcased the nerves of steel required to thwart a side throwing everything at him.
“We responded after losing those two early wickets, never easy,” said Shubman Gill at the presentation ceremony. “It’s all about taking the day five wicket out of the equation. Every ball is an event, take it ball by ball and take it as deep as possible.”
Sundar did that with a maturity beyond his years. Initially a little scratchy, he settled down and began to unpack his repertoire. A push here, a nudge there, a solid front-footed defence here and a caressing drive there, Sundar kept going irrespective of the bowler running into him. There was a time he was running the fielders ragged with Jadeja, till he understood that guarding the respective ends was good enough. Outrageous however was the six he hit against Ben Stokes, taking on a short of the length ball and muscling it behind square. Next ball, he pulled Stokes again for a four to get to fifty.
It can be asserted that India saved their best for most of the landmarks on the day. For taking the lead, Jadeja cut Stokes behind deep backward point for four and brought out the sword; for the hundred he clobbered Harry Brook for six. Sundar wasn’t far behind, smacking Joe Root for three consecutive boundaries to enter the 90s before turning the heat on Brook.
By now India were out of the woods and more. Crisis averted, lead acquired, England frustrated to the extent that they were trash talking them into accepting the draw so that they couldn’t complete their hundreds — this was as good a day as any for Indian cricket overseas.
That it was anchored by an allrounder par excellence and another in the making must be of greater satisfaction for a team still trying to figure out its best combination. Sundar lit up Lord’s with his bowling but he probably needed a hundred of this magnitude for the selectors to make him a permanent part of this side. Without his hundred, India couldn’t have forced England to settle for only their second draw since Stokes and Brendon McCullum took charge of this side in 2022.
“The quality that India have, they were going to be hard to dislodge and they proved that,” Stokes said later. “We threw everything at them and they were able to live up to the pressure of the final day. All the hard work was done by India.”
In times of transition, newer players have to outdo themselves sometimes to earn the trust of the captain. On Sunday, Sundar did that, and then some.
