How Team India's young guns came through the ranks

For a change it didnrsquot require an Indian Premier League to make Washington Sundar Mohammed Siraj Shardul Thakur and T Natarajan household names Their contribution in helping an injuryravaged Team India beat a fullstrength Australia in the fourth and final Test at fortress Gabba was enough to make them heroes overnightAlthough Rahul Dravid former India U19 coach and currently the director of the National Cricket Academy is widely credited for grooming Indiarsquos NextGen cricketers the selectors too deserve a pat on their backs for spotting highly talented individuals from the pool of thousands of playersRohitrsquos fitness controversyThe selection for the Australia tour was an eventful one thanks to the controversy surrounding Rohit Sharmarsquos fitness The Sunil Joshiled committee picked a jumbo squad due to restrictions on replacements in COVID19 timesMSK Prasad and Jatin ParanjapeHowever 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 TestsmdashSiraj 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 wellldquoIt is very pleasing and satisfying when the guys you picked and groomed do wellrdquo exnational selector Jatin Paranjape who was part of the selection committee that picked the teams to Australia told middaySteely nervesSundarrsquos nerves of steel impressed every cricket expert Primarily known for his whiteball exploits Sundarrsquos composure and temperament at the Gabba was beyond expectations For someone who has only played 13 firstclass matches how did Sundar make the cut for the Test team ldquoOriginally 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 Washingtonrsquos 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 perfectionrdquo said Joshirsquos predecessor MSK PrasadNeed for three spinnersPrasadrsquos coselector Paranjape observed ldquoI had made my opinion clear that he Sundar will be our multiformat 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 batsmanrsquos 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 multiformat cricket Given the circumstances he was very quickly drafted in He was only there for the limitedovers series and then he would assist batsmen to play offspin in the nets for Test cricketrdquoWhile net bowler Natarajan was purely lucky to make his debut in all three formats on the Australia tour Paranjape felt India have found the leftarmer they were looking for ldquoBefore Natarajan we tried Khaleel Ahmed As per our analysis leftarmers are very effective We have very compelling statistics to back that Natarajanrsquos 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 boardrdquo said ParanjapeOpportunity grabbedldquoHe 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 superblyrdquo said PrasadIn the selectorsrsquo mind Siraj was always a redball bowler ldquoIrsquove always said hersquos a redball cricketer It was between Siraj and Saini to make a Test debut at Melbourne In his second domestic season Siraj was the highest wickettaker Even for India lsquoArsquo we never had him play whiteball cricket Siraj is a good fourthchoice pacerrdquo said PrasadSiraj makes it countParanjape stressed ldquoSiraj was unlucky to miss out on the last tour of Australia 201819 But after that we saw him bowl a lot in the Ranji Trophy We were convinced that he is ready for Test cricketrdquo A proud Prasad felt the youngsters have set the benchmark for newcomers to make the cut