5 Times when Indian youngsters surprised the opposition

4. Washington Sundar against Australia, 2021

India’s tour of Australia 2020-21 will probably one of India’s most memorable and iconic tour down under. The test series not only saw the rise of many young Indian heroes but also broke the notion that India couldn’t win overseas without Virat Kohli. What made the victory even more special that a young, inexperienced, and injury-battling Indian team defeated a well-settled and in-form Australian team at their home.

 India went on to the 4th Test match at Gabba with the series tied at 1-1. The test match was the debut game for the 21-year-old Washington Sundar. In the absence of Ashwin and Jadeja, it was expected that Kuldeep Yadav would be the team’s number spin choice. Instead, the team management went with the off-spinner Sundar; maybe because apart from bowling, the youngster is a pretty handy batsman as well. The youngster stood upon everyone’s expectations and played a match-winner role for the team.

In the first innings of the test match, Sundar bowled a total of 31 overs (the most by an Indian in that innings) and managed to pick up 3 wickets. Sundar’s maiden wicket came in the 34th over of the innings when Steve Smith chipped one to Rohit Sharma. India managed to restrict Australia for 369 runs despite some of their batsmen getting very good starts. Coming to bat, Indian batsmen, made the same mistake that the Aussies did; they gave their wickets away despite getting starts.

India’s score was 5 for 161 when Sundar came out to bat. Soon after Sundar’s arrival, Rishabh Pant too threw his wicket away, reducing India’s score to 186 for 6. It seemed India would be bowled out pretty cheap and Australia might amass a good lead. But Sundar and Shardul Thakur had some plans of their own. Sundar and Shardul put up 123 runs for the 7th wicket before Shardul was bowled by Cummins for 67 runs.

With 62 runs, debutant Washington Sundar was India’s second-highest scorer in the innings. Sundar’s innings included 7 fours and one gigantic no-look six to Nathan Lyon.  Due to his heroic innings, India managed to conclude their innings at 336 runs, giving Australia a lead of mere 36 runs.

Even in the second innings, Sundar dismissed Australian opener, David Warner. Chasing 328 runs in the second innings, a draw looked much closer for India when Mayank Agarwal got out 265. India needed some quickfire runs in the last 10 overs and Sundar rose to the occasion yet again. In just 29 balls, Sundar scored 22 runs and played an important role alongside Pant to secure a victory for India. It was only after the game that he told everyone that it was Ashwin who mentored him throughout the game and helped him with his performance.