Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur and the joy of unexpected, hard-fought success

There are many moments from day three of the fourth Test between Australia and India at the Gabba to highlight but we’ll start with two.

First, there is a photograph of Washington Sundar swaying away to a bouncer from Josh Hazlewood. Here’s one of the premium modern day fast bowlers, coming hard at a debutant with everything he’s got, on a pitch and in a match situation that he’s unlikely to have been in before. It’s what you’d call chin music in cricket and there were a few of those directed at India’s lower-order batsmen.

But in that photograph, Washington looks at the ball as closely as he could, his gloves and bat in the perfect position that would have delight any batting coach. His knees are bent just the right amount. He lets the ball go as if he had played many Hazlewoods on many such pitches in many Test matches around the world. It was, of course, his first innings as a Test cricketer.