Just fight for entire day was coach's message for me: Washington Sundar

Manchester, Jul 27 (PTI) The maiden Test hundred does feel "special" and Washington Sundar, before heading out to bat early on fifth morning of the fourth Test against England, received one message from his coach Gautam Gambhir: "Just fight for the entire day." Washington (101 not out) and Ravindra Jadeja (107 not out) batted for more than 55 overs to add 203 runs for the fifth wicket and kept India alive in the series with a deserving draw here on Sunday.

"This Test hundred feels very special," Washington told Cheteshwar Pujara on JioHotstar.

"I just wanted to fight for an entire day and that was the only message given to me by the coach (Gambhir)." Washington, who had started his junior cricket as a specialist batter, was happy that he got an opportunity to bat in the top five.

"I was anyway going to bat at No. 5. I was padded up for two sessions. I was very glad that I got that opportunity. If I could bat higher up the order in future, it would be a blessing," the Chennai player said.

"The chat that he had with Jadeja was to play each ball on merit. We wanted to let go off the thoughts of result and just concentrate on each and every delivery." "We just wanted to play to the merit of each delivery. The wicket was doing a bit. Bulding partnership was important. The first job was to see off the new ball," Washington said. PTI KHS KHS AH AH