India all-rounder Washington Sundar showed composure beyond his years but missed out on a maiden Test hundred by 4 runs in India's commendable first innings score of 365. But wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik has praised the effort and called it a 'fabulous knock' as it enabled the hosts to build a 160-run lead in the fourth Test against England at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Saturday.
With the India innings finishing on 365 -- a lead of 160 -- the visitors had to bat out three overs before the umpires called for Lunch. At the break, England's score read 6/0 with openers Zak Crawley (5) and Dominic Sibley (1) at the crease.
The 21-year-old left-hander's 96 off 174 balls was as important as Rishabh Pant's second day hundred but a sudden tail-end collapse saw him stranded at the non-striker's end.
India lost their last three wickets in a space of five balls with Ben Stokes (27.4-6-89-4) cleaning the tail without much fuss. Washington's innings was in complete contrast to his former India U-19 teammate Rishabh Pant, who had blasted his way during the final 50 runs of his innings.
Washington and Axar Patel (43 off 97 balls) added an invaluable 106 runs for the eighth wicket, which has probably thrown England out of the contest. The best part about the stand was they never looked like blasting the bowlers but got their runs at a fair clip adding 71 runs to the overnight score in 20.4 overs.
Washington also played a few pull shots as and when Stokes decided to use the short ball but the slowness enabled him to comfortably negotiate the bouncers. While Washington hit 10 fours and a six, Axar had five boundaries and a maximum in his kitty.
Taking to Twitter, Karthik wrote, "Washing'TON' Sundar. I was waiting to write this...but it's okay, I'm sure I'll use this very soon! Fabulous knock @Sundarwashi5."
Former India spinner Harbhajan Singh also said Sundar 'deserved' a hundred in the game.
"Feel sad for this young man @Sundarwashi5 deserved 100 #INDvsENG," he tweeted.
