Team India had two debutants at the Gabba in the fourth Test of the series. Spinner Washington Sundar, who stayed with the Test team as a net bowler, was the second debutant alongside T Natarajan.
As his first Test wicket, Sundar got Steve Smith, who had scored a century and a half-century in the previous game at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Smith flicked an overpitched delivery off his pads to Rohit Sharma standing at short mid-on while batting on 36.
Because Washington Sundar got his Test cap from R Ashwin, who had Smith's number from the start of the series, former Indian pacer Zaheer Khan remarked cheekily that Ashwin might have also passed on the guru mantra to dismiss Smith along with the cap.
Zaheer Khan told Sony Sports Network, "It seemed like Ashwin gave Washington Sundar the guru-mantra on how to dismiss Steve Smith, along with his cap, about the line to be bowled in these conditions. We saw that he was able to get the ball to drift like Ashwin although he is quicker in the air than Ashwin."
Sundar finished with figures of 3/89 in his debut Test innings after adding the wickets of Cameron Green and Nathan Lyon to his tally. Zaheer Khan believes that the youngster can prove to be even more lethal in the second innings against the right-handers.
Zaheer said, "The line which he bowls to the right-handers, he will give trouble to them, especially when his faster deliveries get grip from the pitch. Then his straighter ones can prove to be even better. So, I believe when he comes in the second innings, and there is help like that in the wicket, he will cause a lot of problems."
