Indian spinner Washington Sundar made his Test debut as Ravichandran Ashwin’s replacement at The Gabba and dismissed Steve Smith to pick up his first Test wicket. Overall, the off-spinner bowled 22 overs giving away 66 runs and picking up the prized wicket of Smith. Australia meanwhile finished Day 1 on 274 for after Marnus Labuschagne struck a brilliant hundred. Tim Paine and Cameron Green added an unbeaten stand of 61 at stumps.
Addressing the post-match virtual press conference, Washington Sundar shared his thoughts on the day’s play. He said he was delighted to get Smith as his first Test wicket. He became the 301st player to play Test cricket for India.
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Washington Sundar's first test wicket was Steve Smith!
Not a bad one to get 👏#AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/aPyss6k15R
— Cricket on TNT Sports (@cricketontnt) January 15, 2021
“Yes, we had some plans going for Steve Smith and Labuschagne, I am very glad that I got Smith out. Yes, felt good bowling for India today and the first wicket felt really good,” Sundar said in a video posted by BCCI.
Sundar was brought into the attack in the 23rd over and immediately he struck for India dismissing Smith and breaking a key partnership between Smith and Labuschagne. Smith was looking good and set for a big score when Sundar got him to push a full delivery to Rohit Sharma at short midwicket.
He further said that he would like to bowl as many overs for India as he says that its fun to bowl a number of overs. “It’s just so much fun to bowl number of overs, you give me 20-30-40-50 overs and I would love to bowl so many overs,” he said.
Washington Sundar Praises T Natarajan
Washington Sundar also hailed the performance of his teammate T Natarajan who also made his Test debut alongside him. The left-arm pacer was India’s 300th Test player. Also, he became the first player to make ODI, T20I and Test debut in the same series.
“I think Nattu (Natarajan) bowled really well today, he brought us back into the game. Wade and Labuschagne had 120-odd partnership going, and he took both of them out” said Sundar.
“He bowled really well today and definitely feels good to be making my debut alongside him and he is a champion bowler and really hope he does really well in this Test and we can win this game for India,” he further added.
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