Washington Sundar
India all-rounder Washington Sundar didn't have a perfect pair of pads even when the fourth and final Test against Australia had started, revealed fielding coach R Sridhar.
Sundar was roped into the playing XI for the Brisbane Test after a back injury to R Ashwin. Asked to stay in Australia after the T20I series as a net bowler, a Test debut was something that Sundar wouldn't have imagined in his wildest dreams.
However, the injury-plagued Indian side had resort to fresh faces after losing many key players in Australia. As many as five players including Sundar were handed Test debuts during the course of the series.
After picking up a three-wicket haul with the ball, Sundar went on to score maiden Test fifty at The Gabba. He added a 121-run stand for the seventh wicket - the highest seventh-wicket stand by India in a Test match in Brisbane. Sundar ended up scoring 62 which included 7 fours and a six. The Chennai-born also became only the third Indian to score a half-century on Test debut in Australia.
After the Indian team's arrival following a tedious tour of Australia, Sridhar revealed Sundar's struggles to find a pair of pads during the Brisbane Test.
“We tried many but they were too small for the tall Sundar. We tried getting from the Aussies but due to Covid, they could not spare their pads. Finally, we had to go to a shop after the Test match had started,’’ he was quoted saying by Telangana Today.
The Indian team, led by Rishabh Pant's match-defining show with the bat, scripted history by breaching The Gabba fortress and registering back-to-back Test series wins in Australia. Like all Indian players, Sundar was also given a grand welcome upon his return to the country.
