Live Score
Cricket Teams
Cricket Players
Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur: In an elite league, and loving it
India's seventh-wicket pair hit fifties and raised a partnership of 123 to lead the fightback in the Brisbane Test, displaying the confidence gained from IPL stints.
Young cricketers with the dream of playing for India know what it means to get a Test cap. All anonymity will vanish overnight as they are accorded pride of place in a cricket-mad nation’s consciousness. One must shed butterflies in the stomach and make it count, though a debut away from home, that too in daunting Australia, can ask too much of a newcomer.
On Sunday, the latest—the other making amends for a forgettable debut in 2018—looked at home, in Australia’s fortress that is Gabba, and against Test cricket’s best bowling attack at present.
Washington Sundar, the debutant, and Shardul Thakur, in his second Test, knew they were not even second choices on this tour. They also know once Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja report fit, they would be back in the reserves.
Sunday though was about living in the moment, like seasoned campaigners than rookies. Indian cricket had gone from big city-centric players to a hinterland brigade led by MS Dhoni; Sundar and Thakur seemed to embody the confidence and awareness IPL has helped instill in the current set.
Australia have been stunned by India’s fringe players in this series. And the world’s best bowling attack looking to go for the kill on the fastest pitch on the tour was halted by the seventh-wicket pair that took the fight to the opposition from a seemingly hopeless 186/6.
Rarely has a domestic player drafted into the team at the last minute showed he belongs at the highest level. Australia is often about intimidation and meek surrenders.
Take the 1999 tour. As India were beaten by massive margins in all three Tests, nervousness in MSK Prasad, Devang Gandhi, Hrishikesh Kanitkar and Vijay Bharadwaj, picked as back-up for Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman, was evident.
In the second Test at MCG, Tendulkar got a majestic hundred, Ganguly made 31. At No.6 was Kanitkar with Prasad in next. They made 11 and 6 runs, looking so out of place. In the final Test, No. 6 Kanitkar and No.7 Vijay Bharadwaj made 10 and 3. Prasad, pushed to open, made five. In the second innings, Prasad made 3, Kanitkar 8 and Bharadwaj at No. 11 didn’t score a run. Gandhi, in the first Test, fell for four and zero. Prasad got 14 and 11. For all four, it was the last series of their careers.
Ricky Ponting played in that series; he predicted India will lose all four Tests after the 36 at Adelaide. But the calm assurance of No. 8 Thakur and No.7 Sundar at the crease was a breath of fresh air. India faced a huge first innings deficit in reply to Australia’s 369, but the seventh-wicket partnership almost got India level.
The mindset change has been stunning on this tour and experts see the IPL impact on how Sundar and Thakur soaked in the pressure. “For the last seven-eight years I’m part of IPL and see so many youngsters doing well at the highest level,” said former India batsman Pravin Amre, an assistant coach with Delhi Capitals.
“They are sharing the dressing room with the legends of the game. That really improves their confidence. They believe they belong at that level. I compare myself with these players, and we suffered due to that. We used to respect the players, but sometimes it became a complex. The current players believe in themselves,” said Amre, who played 11 Tests in the 1990s.
Playing for high-profile franchises—Thakur is with Chennai Super Kings and Sundar is in Royal Challengers Bangalore—has its own pressure and they have benefitted. “Both are in teams where big leaders (MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli) are there, they know the expectations. They are not the main players in their teams, so have limited opportunities. They got a support role. You can’t survive in a top IPL team unless you have the attitude; that is what IPL has done. Pushing yourself when the chips are down,” said Amre, who was Mumbai Ranji Trophy coach when Thakur made his debut in 2012.
“You have to adjust to play with the red ball, you can't play like you do in white-ball cricket. You need game awareness, and that is where they have done well.”
