Piping hot chicken biriyani and sakkara pongal will welcome cricketer Washington Sundar when he returns home to Chennai, as Team India wrapped up the Australia tour in style. Washington was among the five debutants (with Mohammad Siraj, T Natarajan, Shubman Gill and Navdeep Saini) to play in the Australia tour, a feat repeated only after 25 years in Indian cricket. Washington’s exploits with the ball and the bat will remain etched in the memory of cricket fans for a long time.
Washington’s father M Sundar, himself a cricket player, named his son after his mentor PD Washington. Washington, along with his sister Shailaja, grew up on a steady diet of cricket.
Speaking to TNM, Shailaja recalls, “We grew up watching only sports, mostly cricket, on TV, since dad was a cricketer. Movies and other entertainment programmes were strictly off-limits.” While Shailaja accompanied her father to practice sessions and took to cricket gradually, Washington’s interest in cricket was quite intense from early on. Ever since he was able to walk, Washington would practise stances by watching matches on TV and prod his elder sister to bowl to him so that he could hit the ball with a tiny autographed bat his father had bought him.
Washington Sundar and Shailaja amid cricket practice session
In the backdrop of several such memories, Shailaja says that it was an emotional moment for the entire family to watch Washington get his test cap on the day the final test match at Brisbane started. “He’d told us the previous evening that he was going to make his debut. It was very emotional for us then itself. To watch him get the cap for his debut was even more wonderful. The national anthem, we really had goosebumps!” she says.
Washington’s first test wicket was none other than Steve Smith, one of the top test batsmen in world cricket. The youngster went on to scalp two more wickets in the first innings (Cameron Green and Nathan Lyon). But what many fans will remember about the debutant is the 123-run partnership he built with Shardul Thakur for the seventh wicket at the Gabba.
“In the first innings when he came to bat, India was 186/6. Then Shardul and he had to really build a good partnership to take the team to a lead. I enjoyed the way he played. He played to the merit of the ball. That was a sensible thing to do,” Shailaja notes. Adding that she wanted him to first complete his 50 and then his century, Shailaja says, “After he scored 50, I wanted him to score a century. As a cricketer, once you’re settled and really in the zone, you don’t want to lose out on the opportunity.”
It was in this innings that Washington’s ‘No-look’ six off Nathan Lyon stunned the internet, with many relishing the nonchalance with which the debutant hit the ball outside the boundary. Laughing about it, Shailaja says that Washington has a habit of playing that shot as it’s a technique that he’d been working on for quite some time. Crediting their father for Washington’s strong basics, Shailaja says, “It’s his technical strength. He has been working on that shot for a long time. As a kid, he used to play very gracefully. One good thing my dad did was that he made sure Washi’s basics were very strong. Technique is very important. So Washi has had a very strong technique since childhood. That has really helped him in facing a world-class bowling attack. It’s not easy to do that. That shot he hit off Nathan Lyon was terrific. It was wonderful to watch. It just showed the confidence he has in his abilities.”
A no-look six #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/S5xsJ0aH9k
— ICC (@ICC) January 17, 2021
Though Shailaja and Washington followed their respective career paths, Shailaja still remembers the ‘tiny boy’ who would hold her hand while going for cricket practice. “He was a tiny boy when he was younger. Our dad is a disciplinarian who insisted we carry our own things when we went for practice to the ground. So Washington would walk with his big backpack that was literally bigger than him, holding my fingers. It’s a lovely memory I have of our younger days,” she says. Though the siblings don’t discuss cricket anymore since Washington already has a lot of cricket going on in his life, they talk about many other things, she adds.
Washington with his sister Shailaja
“However, when he was in Australia and was playing in the test match, all I asked him on the phone was if he slept well, ate well, got ice for his shoulder, and things like that. He can take care of his cricket. It’s a 9-5 job under the sun, literally. There’s so much physical exertion, it’s not easy,” she explains. Generous in her praise for the entire unit, Shailaja says that there are several ‘life lessons’, not just cricket to be learnt from this team.
The Chennai lad will have very few days at home before he heads off to join the team for the upcoming series against England. Hinting that the Sundar household in Chennai was eagerly awaiting his return, Shailaja says, “He’s been away for about six months now (he left home for the IPL). He’s been craving for home food, he has already sent a list of dishes that he wants when he’s back. He loves meat and seafood. During IPL, he actually told us to send home-cooked food to Dubai and we were like ‘How?’ Chicken biriyani and sakkara pongal will be waiting for him the day he comes home.”