He has now has become the fifth Indian spinner in history to take a four-wicket haul at Lord’s and the first since Srinivas Venkatraghavan in 1971 (51 years ago in the West Indies) to achieve the feat
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No other Indian spinner since 2000 has managed to take more than a wicket in a spell at cricket’s spiritual home.
Twenty-five-year-old Washington Sundar has achieved the rare distinction of joining the exclusive club of legendary spin bowlers in Indian cricketing history alongside legends like Vinoo Mankad, Bishen Singh Bedi, BS Chandrashekhar and S Venkatragavan.
He has now has become the fifth Indian spinner in history to take a four-wicket haul at Lord’s, where India has played 20 matches and the first since Srinivas Venkatraghavan in 1971 (51 years ago) to achieve the feat.
On the fourth Day of the Lord’s Test match against England, Sundar created history and spun the game in India’s favour with a memorable spell of 4-22, the best by an Indian spinner at the iconic stadium in the 21st century.
This has put the Shubman Gill side in the driver’s seat to seal a 2-1 lead in the 2025 Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy.
Sundar is an Indian international cricketer. An all-rounder who bats left-handed and bowls right-arm off-spin, he plays for Tamil Nadu in domestic cricket and Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League. He made his debut for the Indian cricket team in 2017 against Sri Lanka.
Asked at a press conference on the fourth day of play, what it felt like to become a part of cricket history Sundar said: “I think the game went well for me”. This is typical off the player’s humility.
To another question of claiming the prized wicket of Jamie Smith, Sundar simply said: “God has been very kind”.
- What a quaint coincidence that ‘God’ and ‘Lord(s)’ should come together in such a historic way for Sundar
- In plain speech both words mean one and the same thing
- Incidentally this is Sundar first Test match at Lords
Sundar got the big wicket of Joe Root, who had scored a century in the first innings and was batting at 40 in the second. Later, he got the wickets of Jamie Smith, arguably England’s best batsman in the series, followed by the wickets of England captain Ben Stokes before wrapping up the innings with wicket of.
Since the turn of the century, Anil Kumble has taken a three-wicket haul twice and another two-wicket haul. Ravindra Jadeja also got a two-wicket haul in the famous 2014. No other Indian spinner since 2000 has managed to take more than a wicket in a spell at cricket’s spiritual home.
Here is a list of the other four sinning legends
Vinoo Mankad, 1952: Former India skipper Vinoo Mankad’ achieved the remarkable bowling figures of 6 for 196 against England during In the 1952 series, second Test match played at Lords (June 19-24).
Bishan Singh Bedi, 1974: Bishan Singh Bedi’s 6-226 in 1974 were figures against England at Lord’s, according to Lords Cricket. This performance earned him a place on the Lord’s Honours Boards.
- Chandrasekhar’s 5/127: In 1967, he bowled a marathon spell of 53 overs in the first innings, England won the match by an innings and 124 runs.
S.Venkatraghavan, 5-52: S. Venkatraghavan achieved the bowling figures of 5 for 52 in 1971 against the West Indies. This performance was part of India’s historic Test series victory in the West Indies in 1971. Specifically, these figures were recorded in the first Test of the series, played at Queen’s Park Oval, Port of Spain.
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