Rohit bhai and Gauti bhai told us to fight no matter what: Washington Sundar

The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) witnessed Washington Sundar and Nitish Kumar Reddy pull off a remarkable partnership, keeping India alive in the fourth Test against Australia. With the series tied at 1-1, the visitors needed a fightback, and Sundar and Reddy delivered when it mattered the most.

At one stage, the visitors were struggling at 221/7 after losing Ravindra Jadeja and Rishabh Pant and were trailing by 253 runs, with only Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah left as the Indian batting tail. Australia looked set to enforce a follow-on. Nitish and Sundar stitched together a brilliant 127-run stand, India’s second-highest eighth-wicket partnership on Australian soil. While Sundar blocked and defended well, Reddy took the aggressive route, finishing the day unbeaten on 105*.

Sundar facing 162 balls smashed a well-deserved fifty, while Reddy capitalized on the conditions and went on to hammer his maiden Test ton. Together, they ensured India avoided the follow-on and stayed in contention in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT 2024-25). After the day’s play, Washington Sundar credited captain Rohit Sharma and head coach Gautam Gambhir for their belief and advice.

“One thing, especially with Rohit bhai (Sharma) and Gauti bhai (Gautam Gambhir), is that they keep telling us to fight no matter what. For India, in a ground like MCG, we will do everything. They kept telling me that they believed in me and what I was capable of in this format. Very happy about it (his batting performance); it would have been better if I had scored more runs and not gotten out. But we are in a good position,” the off-spinner told the press in Melbourne.

Besides he also shed light on how the Head Coach Gautam Gambhir along with the batting coach Abhishek Nair helped him with his batting. Moreover, how Gambhir focussed on tactical side of the game, which came handy as Australia tried plethora of tricks under their hat but in vain.

"Gauti Bhai has helped me a lot because he's trusted in me a lot. And he's kept telling me how much my batting skill set is going to be important for the team. And even the batting coach Abhishek Nair, he's worked a lot in my game. And he's always made sure tactically I'm always there. And no matter, we knew Australians are going to try out different things in different phases of the game. But he talks a lot about tactics and having such information, especially out there, I think it made a lot of things easy for me," Sundar concluded.

Also Read: Twitter Reactions: Young sensation Nitish Kumar Reddy’s heroic century keeps India fighting

Sundar-Reddy nearly eclipsed long-standing record in Melbourne

Meanwhile, speaking of Nitish Reddy and Washington Sundar's partnership, the duo narrowly missed setting a new record, falling two runs short of the highest eighth-wicket stand for India in Australia, set by Sachin Tendulkar and Harbhajan Singh in 2008. Their efforts not only steadied the innings but also brought down the deficit of Australia’s total as the side ended the day at a score of 358/9.