India vs South Africa: This is why Washington Sundar at no.3 is a solid move
These are times of transition for the Indian Test team as they try to fill the voids left behind by the retirements of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara in the batting department. Captain Shubman Gill has locked the no.4 spot once held by Kohli while Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja have been the pillars of the lower middle order. KL Rahul was always a ready replacement for Rohit as the opener.
What about the no.3 spot? India have tried Sai Sudharsan and Karun Nair without really giving a long rope to either, and the latest entrant to this role is likely to be Washington Sundar. On Friday (November 14), Gill's playing XI at the tosss indicated that the Tamil Nadu all-rounder would be slotting in at the crucial spot.
Sundar's batting records
Despite batting in the lower order for a majority of his international career thus far, Sundar has a Test batting average of nearly 45 with one century and five fifties. The first time he batted in the top-six was at Manchester this year and Sundar made it count with a historic unbeaten ton, as he combined with Jadeja to take India to a famous draw from the jaws of defeat.
Sundar's First-class average is a bit lesser - 34.40 - but it has again been a place where the left-hander has donned a number of roles including that of opener on FC debut. Sundar has always had a solid technique and fine temperament, and has shown great resolve in tricky situations for team India. His off-spin skills has often done harm for his batting position but Sundar has regularly shown that he is a batter.
Man with crisis skills
All of Sundar's fifty-plus scores in Tests have come when India were under severe pressure. While the Manchester epic is at the top of the list for obvious reasons, he had an unbeaten 96* against the same opponents in the Ahmedabad Test of 2021. In that innings, India were 146/6 and Sundar was one of the stars as the score eventually got to 365.
In the same 2021 series against England, Sundar had another innings of 85* in Chennai to rescue India along with Pant. These two knocks in the series where was left stranded, showed that Sundar deserved to bat higher up. After all, it was only a few months ago from that series that the southpaw produced a priceless 62 against Australia in Brisbane to get India to 336 from 186/6.
India's team balance factor
Playing Sundar at 3 allows India to get a better balance to their playing XI. This ploy would help them especially for the overseas tours in the future when they'll need to play more fast bowlers in the line-up. In Sundar, they have a potentially solid all-rounder who can play as a specialist batter but also do the role of a specialist spinner.
Whether no.3 is his ideal spot or not is for Sundar to prove but he definitely has the credentials to do the job. With Ravindra Jadeja at the fag end of his career, Sundar would be the ideal person to take the baton of an all-rounder forward, even if they are two different kinds of players.
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