Washington Sundar played an instrumental role in India's great escape against England alongside veteran all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja on Day 5 of the fourth Test match at Old Trafford.
The duo shared an unbroken 203-run stand, smashing unbeaten centuries to end England's hope for a win. Sundar slammed his maiden Test ton in the process, scoring 101* runs off 206 balls with nine boundaries and a six.
Sundar also picked up a couple of scalps as the Shubman Gill-led side saved the Test to enforce a series-decider at the Oval in London later this week.
Following Sundar’s heroics in Manchester, his father M Sundar has expressed disappointment that people often forget his son’s good performances and he does not receive regular chances in the Indian playing XI.
M Sundar also slammed the team management for ignoring his son in the playing XI for the first Test at Headingley.
“Washington has been doing very well consistently. However, people tend to avoid and forget his performances. Other players get regular chances, only my son doesn't get them. Washington should consistently bat at number five like he did in the second innings of the fourth Test and get five to ten straight chances. My son was surprisingly not picked for the first Test against England. The selectors should watch his performances,” M Sundar told TOI.
He further stated that his son gets dropped after one or two failures. He also recalled the time when Washington was left out of the side in 2021, despite scoring runs in the home Test series against England.
“My son gets dropped even if he fails in just one or two matches. It is not fair. Washington scored an unbeaten 85 on a rank turner in Chennai against England back in 2021 and 96* against the same opposition in Ahmedabad during the same year. He would have been dropped even if those two knocks had ended up in centuries. Has this kind of an approach been maintained for any other Indian cricketer? He has become very strong after all this and the result is the performance which people are witnessing now,” M Sundar added.
England were left ruing a missed opportunity to secure victory and an unassailable 3-1 lead in the series, despite holding a huge first innings lead of 311 runs at Old Trafford.
India, meanwhile, will take confidence into the final Test, starting on July 31. The visitors are currently 1-2 behind in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy but have a golden opportunity to draw the series in the finale.
