India threw a surprise by opting for Washington Sundar instead of R Ashwin or Ravindra Jadeja as their lone spinner. Not a surprise if you consider Washington’s recent form against New Zealand in the home series, but certainly an unexpected selection call if the past is considered. Couple of days ago, the decision that seemed most likely was the selection of Ashwin.

In his last series in Australia, Ashwin had starred, and was especially most effective against Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne. Sundar of course did a tremendous job against New Zealand, out bowling his more illustrious team-mates. But it had come on tracks that had aided the turn.

He had pocketed a couple of dreamy dismissals too, turning from middle and off to peg back the off stump of bewildered batsmen. But even those deliveries could have been interpreted in a different way. On a turner, he was possibly the one spinner who could, because he spins minimally than the others, find the stumps despite pitching the ball on the middle-ish line.

The others were getting the ball to turn it past the off stump. So, will he be able to do that on a Perth track or will the ball travel almost straight-ish? Sundar also has the ability to extract bounce with his action and his batting abilities too would have come into consideration for the selection.

The Perth track is interesting. The pre-match talk was about spice and carry but on the match eve, on Thursday, the murmurs from ground staff was that because of some rain in the preceding days, they weren’t exactly sure about how much pace and bounce it would have.

India’s top order has been vulnerable, a situation that has further escalated in the absence of Rohit Sharma, out to paternity leave, and Shubman Gill, out due to a fractured finger. The original choice for opener Abhimanyu Eashwaran hasn’t quite been up to it in Australia, as yet, in the side games and ‘A’ matches. And they have had to draft in Devdutt Padikkal into the squad and into the playing XI at the last minute.

Ashwin’s battle with Smith, though, would be missed. Last time around, they played the ODI leg first by the end of which Smith had claimed to find his “hands”. And fascinatingly, in the Tests, Ashwin had targeted those very hands.

A visual from the last boxing day Test stirs up in memory. The first ball spun sharply down leg but Smith didn’t handcuff his hands. The next dropped on a length around middle-and-leg, forcing Smith to lunge. For a minute, scrub out the two players, photoshop in Ricky Ponting and Harbhajan Singh and you wouldn’t have noticed a difference.

The seam of the ball towards leg-gully, the ripping side-spin and the door-knob turn of the wrist at release that took the ball in the air from a shade outside off to its eventual destination. Perhaps it was the lure of the trajectory, but Smith’s hands trespassed into areas from which he couldn’t extricate them in time. And the edge carried.

It will be interesting to see what plans Sundar comes up with for the likes of Smith and Labuschagne. WV Raman, former Tamil Nadu coach and someone who has seen Sundar closely for years, had told this newspaper about how he sees Sundar as an allrounder, rather than a spinner.

“In the longer format, he should be seen as a batting all-rounder. He must play in the top order. He is a waste down the order in a red ball. He is not someone who will take five wickets and score 30 runs. In the white-ball, it is understandable that your top order is loaded and the role is different. But in the longer format, especially overseas, he has got that perfect technique to bat in the top five and can give you 10-12 overs a day. He should be looked at as a batting all-rounder in Test cricket.” Now he gets the big opportunity in Australia on a sunny day in Perth.