Quick-fix Washington Sundar justifies Gambhir’s all-rounder over specialist spinner selection at Edgbaston

Gautam Gambhir got a lot of flak for picking three all-rounders. He replaced a specialist batter in Sai Sudharsan with a batting all-rounder, Nitish Kumar Reddy, and brought in Washington Sundar for all-rounder Shardul Thakur. The first selection was understandable to some extent, even if it dents Sudharsan’s confidence. But the second one was a head-scratching one.

3 all-rounders selection criticised

Shardul’s inclusion just proved that you need four proper bowlers, alongside Ravindra Jadeja, to take 20 wickets on these batting-friendly surfaces. Gambhir didn’t learn from the Headingley disappointment and picked Washington, an all-rounder, again. The reason was to improve lower-order batting strength, as stated by India captain Shubman Gill after naming the team for Edgbaston.

No one was denying that the collapse at Headingley in both innings wasn’t an issue but the bowling, that too without Jasprit Bumrah, should ideally be an even bigger concern. You can score all you want, but if you can’t take 20 wickets, you can’t win. So, the decision looked like a defensive one.

Gambhir, proven right by Washington Sundar

And we can talk more about it once we see how India bowl and England bat. But so far, Gambhir’s decision has been proven right. Nitish Reddy did fail but Washington played the part of collapse arrested to his best. At Headingley, India lost 7 wickets for 41 runs in the first innings. The second time around, the last 6 wickets fell for 31 runs.

That wasn’t the case in Edgbaston. Unlike the first Test, India was 211/5. In Headingley, the score was 447 when the fifth wicket fell. Yet, India were all out for 471 in the last game, while this time around they are 564/7 after tea on the second day. Yes, Jadeja’s 89 was instrumental along with Shubman Gill’s double hundred.

But Washington too was responsible for India marching towards a total of over 600. The score was 414 when Jadeja departed. From there, Washington added 144 runs with Gill and scored 43 runs himself. Another great thing about his innings was that he played 103 balls. He further tired the English bowler, who had delivered 107.3 overs before he even walked in.

And it wasn’t like Washington threw his wicket away. If not for an incredible spinning ball from Joe Root, he would have scored a fifty and continued to bat with Gill. It wasn’t to be. Gambhir has been proven right so far. But we can conclude only after watching Nitish and Washington bowl.