CHENNAI: ON a spiteful, up and down track, Indian batters came, saw and perished. Yashasvi Jaiswal lasted all of 31 balls across both innings. Rishabh Pant, who has rescued many a time while wearing whites, lasted 37 balls for two outs. In all, nine Indian batters lasted all of 118 balls on a frenzied and feverish Day Three Eden strip. But the lone man who fought against a tidal wave of gun bowling, irrepressible catching and pressure was Washington Sundar who lasted 92 balls and a shade over two hours (122 minutes to be exact).
Ever since he made the jump up from white-ball cricket to the longest format for the national team, he has played his hand in several jaw-dropping wins and impressive saves. There was, of course, the Miracle of Gabba in 2021, his debut Test. There is the forgotten unbeaten 96 with Rishabh Pant against England in Ahmedabad a few months later. Over the last few months, he has added to his growing catalogue of backs-to-the-wall runs with that match-saving 100 followed by a thrill-a-minute 50, most of which came with the No 11 in a match remembered for Mohammed Siraj's last day heroics.
All these runs, coming in all kinds of conditions against all kinds of attacks, had led a lot of experts to conclude that, yes, Washington could do it up the order, where he normally bats for his state side in red-ball cricket. For a long while, everybody wanted his employers to try him out at No 3 because of the compactness of his technique. He knew where his off-stump was, he was a good player of spin and had the temperament and mental capacity to play a long innings. But the team management, when Washington ultimately rubber-stamped a place in the XI for the series against the Kiwis last year, didn't see it that way. The No 3 according to them, would be a spot reserved for a specialist batter. In their eyes, the all-rounder was best suited to come in lower down.
At some level, they were prepared for a level of upheaval once they had decided to move on from Cheteshwar Pujara, a stalwart who had occupied that position in this line-up for over a decade. But they wouldn't have considered a world where they would have had to field as many as seven No 3's in the last year.
Shubman Gill, Devdutt Padikkal, B Sai Sudharsan, Karun Nair, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul have all come out in that crunch position over the last year. It was thought to be Gill's role but he settled for No 4 when Kohli retired. Sudharsan was being groomed for that role — it may still be his long-term position in this team — but he has already been dropped twice in his fledgling career.
On Day One of the Kolkata Test, a seventh No 3 walked out: Washington. And he immediately confirmed what all those experts had maintained for a few years. Over 174 balls spanning 244 minutes across two innings, he sort of existed in his own little world. Did he get beat multiple times on the outside edge? Yes, he did but on a strip like that, it's an occupational hazard. Did he adopt a more watching brief rather than be on the lookout for more scoring opportunities? Yes, he was merely following what his coach, Gautam Gambhir, wanted his batters to do.
On a treacherous deck, he equipped himself well as he buckled down against spinners capable of challenging both edges. Right now, the all-rounder has a batting average of 43, coupled with a bowling average 30.3 after a decent sample size of 16 Tests in three continents. It's suggestive of a cricketer who can play as a specialist batter or bowler.
However, India's next challenge is to ensure that his primary skill set — one would assume it still is Washington the off-break bowler — remains. He's a lethal option but if they see him as a long-term No 3, he may start spending more time batting than bowling and that comes with its own pitfalls. There was a glimpse of that in Kolkata as he bowled only one over across the match while Simon Harmer, South Africa's own right-arm off-break bowler picked up eight wickets.
With Gill a doubtful starter, it won't be a surprise if the 26-year-old drops back into the middle-order to make way for the Sudharsan, who had a lengthy net session on Tuesday. In the long-run, the No 3 spot remains up for grabs.
