Washington Sundar (62) and Shardul Thakur (67) added 123 off 217 balls runs for the seventh wicket at The Gabba on Day 3 of the fourth Test to take India from 186 for 6 to 336 in their first innings. After India’s batting collapse in Adelaide, they have batted over 100 overs in every innings since them to stage a series of comebacks.
Sundar’s 62 was the highest score by a debutant visiting Number 7 in Australia. became the second Indian player to hit a 50+ debut in his batting innings and take three-plus wickets in his debut bowling innings after Dattu Phadkar (51 & 3/14 vs Aus, SCG, 1947/48).
The last time India’s numbers 7 and 8 scored 50+ in same innings in an away Test, neither of them a wicketkeeper, was at Manchester in 1982, when Sandeep Patil had scored 129* and Kapil Dev had scored 65.
Also Read: Twitter Erupts After An Incredible Partnership Between Washington Sundar And Shardul Thakur
This was also India’s highest seventh-wicket partnership in Test cricket overtaking the previous best of 200* between Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja against Australia in the 2018-19 series.
100+ partnership for 7th wicket for India in Australia:
204 R Pant – R Jadeja Sydney 2018/19
132 V Hazare – H Adhikari Adelaide 1947/48
123 W Sundar – S Thakur Brisbane 2020/21
This was also India’s best seventh-wicket partnership at The Gabba overtaking the previous best of 51 by Kapil Dev and Manoj Prabhakar in 1991.
Also Read: Australia vs India 2020-21: Sunil Gavaskar Showers Praise on Inexperienced Indian Bowlers
Washington Sundar-Shardul Thakur Conquers Brisbane
Highest 7th wicket partnership for India (vs Australia) at the Gabba:
Washington Sundar – Shardul Thakur 121 (2021)
Kapil Dev – Manoj Prabhakar 58 (1991)
MS Dhoni – Ravichandran Ashwin 57 (2014)
Manoj Prabhakar – Ravi Shastri 49 (1991)
M.L. Jaisimha – Bapu Nadkarni 44 (1968)
Josh Hazelwood to five for 57 as the last three wickets added 27 runs before being cleaned up by the Australian bowlers.
Also Read: 5 Indian Players In Contention For The Test Series Against England