Washington Sundar has it in him to excel as all-rounder in Tests, says Rohit Sharma

Washington Sundar has it in him to excel as all-rounder in Tests, says Rohit Sharma

New Delhi: India believe they have found an able candidate in Washington Sundar who can become Ravichandran Ashwin’s ideal replacement in Test cricket in the long run, said skipper Rohit Sharma.

Sundar was preferred over Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja as India’s lone spin-bowling option in the first Test against Australia at Perth that they won by 295 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the five-match Border-Gavaskar series.

Ashwin and Jadeja have been India’s leading spin bowlers in red-ball cricket for a long time and have a cumulative 855 wickets between them. Yet, India had to take the hard call of dropping them as they believed going in with Sundar would give them better chance of winning at Perth.

Rohit missed the game due to paternity leave and is posed to play in the second game at Adelaide from Friday. He acknowledged that it’s always tough to leave out stalwarts as Ashwin and Jadeja.

“Unfortunately, I was not there to bring this news to them that they are not playing the first game. It’s always hard to leave (out) experienced players like Jadeja and Ashwin, it’s never easy,” he said on Thursday, in a pre-match interaction.

“But the decision was made (on the basis of) whatever was best for the team at that particular time and whatever the management felt at that particular time is the right thing to do, we did that.”

‘Hope Sundar stays away from injury’

Sundar is viewed as the 38-year-old Ashwin’s replacement and Rohit endorsed him, saying the young all-rounder have all the skills required to flourish in different conditions.

“(He is) a very solid all-rounder. We’ve seen what he can do with the ball (and) with the bat. He’s got a solid technique to play anywhere in the world and when such players are in the team, you get the confidence,” the skipper said.

“I just hope he doesn’t get injured, because a player like him is always valuable to our squad. (He) gives us that balance, that depth that a team always requires. I can see his graph from here going up only.

“He has got all the tools that is required to find success at international level. He has got everything that is required,” he noted, adding that all-rounder Nitish Reddy and pacer Harshit Rana, who made their debuts at Perth, have the ideal attitude to excel on the field.

“It was very impressive to watch them. They certainly possess a lot of talent, and clearly, in that first Test match in Perth, it never felt like they were playing their first game,” he said.

“Right from the word go, they were in it and they wanted to be in that battle, and wanting to do everything that is asked of them.”

 Sundar was preferred over Ashwin and Jadeja as India’s lone spin-bowling option in the first Test against Australia at Perth that they won by 295 runs  Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today