Washington Sundar resumes training in Chennai amid COVID-19
The HinduAn astonishing performance in first-class cricket is drifting away from public consciousness since the protagonist’s name is often associated with Twenty20 cricket. In the Duleep Trophy final of 2017 in Lucknow, Washington Sundar, then only 17, scalped 11 batsmen in the contest and produced knocks of 88 and 42 for India Red against India Blue to become the first cricketer with 10-plus wickets and more than 100 runs in the summit clash of this prestigious competition. The left-hander answered, “Keeping the base strong, head still and watching the ball closely.” Even as his father does the throwdowns, Washington, stressing fundamentals, plays strokes around the wicket. A natural with the willow, Washington made the India under-19 team essentially as a top-order batsman and his highest Ranji score, 159 against Tripura, arrived as an opener. “I am essentially an opener but when I joined the India under-19 team, Rahul Dravid Sir asked me to bat in the middle-order and wanted me to bowl off-spin a lot more.