How Team India's young guns came through the ranks

T Natarajan, Washington Sundar and Mohammed Siraj

For a change, it didn't require an Indian Premier League to make Washington Sundar, Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur and T Natarajan household names. Their contribution in helping an injury-ravaged Team India beat a full-strength Australia in the fourth and final Test at fortress Gabba was enough to make them heroes overnight.

Although Rahul Dravid, former India U-19 coach and currently, the director of the National Cricket Academy, is widely credited for grooming India's NextGen cricketers, the selectors too deserve a pat on their backs for spotting highly talented individuals from the pool of thousands of players.

Rohit's fitness controversy

The selection for the Australia tour was an eventful one, thanks to the controversy surrounding Rohit Sharma's fitness. The Sunil Joshi-led committee picked a jumbo squad due to restrictions on replacements in COVID-19 times.

MSK Prasad and Jatin Paranjape

However, when the fourth Test arrived, the challenge for the Indian team management was to have 11 fit players on the park. There were five debuts in the last three Tests - Siraj and Shubman Gill at Melbourne, Navdeep Saini at Sydney, Sundar and Natarajan at Brisbane. And all the five debutants coming good was one of the key reasons for India doing well.

"It is very pleasing and satisfying when the guys you picked and groomed, do well," ex-national selector Jatin Paranjape, who was part of the selection committee that picked the teams to Australia, told mid-day.

Steely nerves

Sundar's nerves of steel impressed every cricket expert. Primarily known for his white-ball exploits, Sundar's composure and temperament at the Gabba was beyond expectations. For someone, who has only played 13 first-class matches, how did Sundar make the cut for the Test team? "Originally, Washington was a batsman. He played a lot of junior cricket as a batsman. But subsequently, he developed his bowling skills. If you look at Washington's role in this side, he did what Ravindra Jadeja provided. He kept one end tight. He is a very economical bowler anyway in T20 cricket. He performed his role to perfection," said Joshi's predecessor MSK Prasad.

Need for three spinners

Prasad's co-selector Paranjape observed: "I had made my opinion clear that he [Sundar] will be our multi-format player. When you are playing in India, and if you want to go in with three spinners, it is important that one spinner can also bat. It gives that balance. I had no doubt that Washington could bat because I have seen him bat a lot for Tamil Nadu. He has a batsman's mind, so I was confident he will do well in such situations. You need a clear mind. His selection just happened because here was a guy who can play multi-format cricket. Given the circumstances, he was very quickly drafted in. He was only there for the limited-overs series and then he would assist batsmen to play off-spin in the nets [for Test cricket]."

While net bowler Natarajan was purely lucky to make his debut in all three formats on the Australia tour, Paranjape felt India have found the left-armer they were looking for. "Before Natarajan, we tried Khaleel Ahmed. As per our analysis, left-armers are very effective. We have very compelling statistics to back that. Natarajan's IPL form was very crucial in his selection and his ability to bowl yorkers at will was another factor that we considered to have him on board," said Paranjape.

Opportunity grabbed

"He went there as a net bowler, but as things went in his favour, he grabbed every opportunity that came his way. I never expected that he would rise so well in Test cricket. He played his part superbly," said Prasad.

In the selectors' mind, Siraj was always a red-ball bowler. "I've always said he's a red-ball cricketer. It was between Siraj and Saini to make a Test debut [at Melbourne]. In his second domestic season, Siraj was the highest wicket-taker. Even for India ‘A', we never had him play white-ball cricket. Siraj is a good fourth-choice pacer," said Prasad.

Siraj makes it count

Paranjape stressed: "Siraj was unlucky to miss out on the last tour of Australia [2018-19]. But after that, we saw him bowl a lot in the Ranji Trophy. We were convinced that he is ready for Test cricket." A proud Prasad felt the youngsters have set the benchmark for newcomers to make the cut.