'I am disappointed he did not get a 100' - Washington Sundar's father expected a little more from his son in Brisbane

Chasing a target of 369, posted by Australia in their first innings, India was in for a massive trouble as they were reeling at a mere score of 186 for 6. The hosts had hoped of taking a 100 or 150+ run lead in the last Test at Gabba to take an edge in the game and emerge as the favourites to win the fourth Border-Gavaskar Test and the series.

However, the debutant Washington Sundar and Shardul Thakur, who was just playing his second Test game after more than two years, literally stunned Australia by their resilience as they stitched a crucial 123-run partnership for the seventh wicket to shift the momentum towards the hosts.

Sundar showed amazing nerves on debut and scored 62 runs off 144 balls with seven fours and a six to his name. His 62 is the highest score since 1911 for a number seven debutant by a visiting player in Australia. India, on the back of Sundar and Thakur’s exceptional batting, managed to post 336 runs in the first innings cutting down Australia’s lead to only 33 runs.

Washington Sundar should have hit fours and sixes, says debutant’s father

Both the players had shined with the ball too in the first innings scalping three wickets each. Meanwhile, the two swashbuckling players were lauded by the who’s who of the cricket fraternity for their sensational performance. However, the same wasn’t the case with M. Sundar, Washington Sundar’s father as he expected little more from his son.

The senior Sundar wanted his son to get his maiden Test hundred in his debut match. He also felt that Washington should have tried hitting sixes when Siraj was on the other end. Washi’s father heaped praises on his son saying that Sundar is very much capable of playing match-defining knocks with the willow as he has opened the batting for many number of times in the domestic circuit.

“I am disappointed he did not get a 100. When Siraj came, he should have hit fours and sixes. He is capable of that. He should have gone for sixes. He could have gone for pulls and big hits. Perhaps, he thought of trying to come close to Australia’s total as the lead was very less,” M Sundar said as quoted by Times Now News.

“I speak to him in Australia every day. I told him last evening whenever you get a chance, get a big score. He said, ‘sure I will’. Washington is a natural opening batsman, and has scored a lot of runs against the new ball. In Chennai League, he is the youngest player to score a hundred in the first division league. At the age of 14, he got a century while opening,” he added.