Washington Sundar played like a top-order batsman: VVS Laxman

VVS Laxman praised Washington Sundar for his performance on Day 4 of the first Test against England. The all-rounder remained unbeaten for 85 to help the visitors reach 337 runs in their first innings. Sundar impressed everyone with his two vital knocks in the 2020 Border-Gavaskar series.

While talking about Sundar's knock on Day 4, Laxman highlighted that the loose deliveries from Dom Bess and Jack Leach availed the all-rounder. The former batsman glorified the ability of the 21-year-old when he smashed boundaries off James Anderson and Jofra Archer's bowling.

The former cricketer pointed out that Sundar's defense was similar to a top-order batsman. Laxman opines that the youngster uses his feet and the depth of the crease against the spinners. He had also displayed great faith in his defense against the pacers when the new ball was taken. Laxman added that it was great to see that Washington Sundar batted like a No.3 or No.4 batsman and not a No.7 or No.8. 

On the other end, Ashish Nehra indicated that Sundar's performance in Australia had given the all-rounder immense confidence. The way he scored runs in his debut match was recommendable. The 21-year-old has played as an opening batsman in TNPL and the under-19 World Cup as well. The former Indian pacer signed off by saying that Sundar's talent as a batsman was noticeable when he was associated with RCB as a bowling coach.

Washington Sundar became the 8th Indian player to record a 50+ score in debut innings at home and away

In India's first innings, Sundar played a brilliant knock of 85 runs in 138 deliveries. The youngster became the eighth Indian player to record a 50 plus score in debut innings both at home and away. Sundar played a crucial inning of 64 runs against Australia in his debut Test at Brisbane. The other seven Indian cricketers who have accomplished this feat are Rusi Modi, Surinder Amarnath, Arun Lal, Sourav Ganguly, Suresh Raina, Hardik Pandya, Mayank Agarwal.

Furthermore, Sundar is now the second on the list of Indian cricketers to score the most runs in their international career's first three innings. He has accumulated 169 runs in his Test career till now which include two half-centuries and above. Rahul Dravid holds the record for scoring the most runs in the first three innings for an Indian player batting No. 7.

READ MORE Cricket articles here!