There was something significant about Washington Sundar’s delivery to Ben Stokes, in the second innings of the Edgbaston Test. It drifted into the left-hander a whopping 5.3 degrees. In an imaginary sense, it almost felt as if the ball came in with a sound of electric whizz. Washington followed that up by finding more than twice the amount of drift as any other spinner, in the third Test at Lord’s. These are impressive numbers for a spinner who is still relatively inexperienced at the Test level.
For a minute or two, let’s leave aside his much-talked about delivery to Stokes, and consider his potentially game-changing spell in the second essay at Lord’s to unearth further evidence about his qualities. Joe Root, the mainstay of the England batting unit, attempted to sweep by getting his front foot outside the line of off-stump. Unfortunately for him, the ball drifted in and he was castled. Jamie Smith also was done in by the drift, with the delivery straightening via the angle to peg back the off-stump. The slope also played its part.
He also once more dislodged Stokes, where he combined drift with a clever change in field placement — employing a fielder at short fine, along with positioning a man at deep square-leg. Stokes had to now look for a slog sweep via mid-wicket, but he could only hear the death rattle when he tried that stroke.
All those examples set the narrative for how Washington beat the batters with tantalising flight and drift. The art of imparting enough revs on the ball has been one of the hallmarks of Washington’s bowling ever since he made a massive impact during the India-New Zealand Test series last year.
Maybe, just maybe, Ravindra Jadeja could take a cue from Washington. It is true that Jadeja has been a bedrock of the Indian batting unit in the ongoing five-match Test series. However, Jadeja has bagged a mere three wickets in three Tests so far.
On a typical spin-friendly deck, in home conditions, his ability to extract a good amount of turn off the pitch at even 95 kph has turned out to be the cornerstone of his success. But in overseas conditions, especially in South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia, that may not always work. So, from that context, Jadeja could look to mix up the pace a touch.
Another criticism against Jadeja is that he doesn’t consistently hit the footmarks outside the off-stump of a left-hander from over the wicket. Once more, slowing it up a touch in the air and bowling from wider of the crease could help the veteran spinner to trouble southpaw batters.
While playing in some of the foreign climes, pace bowlers are expected to make most of the inroads. But as Washington showed it at Lord’s, and to an extent at Edgbaston, a spinner too can make a contribution with the ball in hand.
Note: Cricviz is the source of the data provided in the copy.