Former Indian batter Sanjay Manjrekar has showered praise on Washington Sundar after the all-rounder scored a fine half-century on the third day of the fourth Test match at the iconic MCG on Saturday.

Sundar scored a fine knock of 50 runs off 162 balls as he batted at the top of his game. The left-hander joined forces with Nitish Kumar Reddy when India was struggling at 221-7 after Australia posted a par score of 474 runs in the first innings.

Sundar added a crucial alliance of 127 runs off 285 balls with Reddy to help India get out of the woods. Manjrekar said he is left surprised with the amount of talent Sundar has under his belt.

“We have seen similar batting from him earlier in Australia. So there were expectations from him and that is why he is probably playing in this match as his batting would help India. He is slightly different from the other batters. He takes his stance within the crease,” Sanjay Manjrekar said on Star Sports.

“When he plays off the back foot, it seemed one or two times that he would get hit wicket. He plays so late. I have always been surprised that how can one guy have so much talent. He is an off-spinner. We saw him becoming a proper replacement for Ashwin in the home series and then batting like this. He plays T20 and 50-over cricket as well,” Manjrekar added.

On the other hand, former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan noted that two different games were the need of the hour as Reddy played aggressively whereas Sundar played the second fiddle in the partnership.

“A different game was going on at the other end. Nitish Kumar Reddy was showing aggression. He was stepping out and playing big shots. When you see such a thing at the other end, it’s even more difficult to control your instinct because you feel that two different games are being played. However, two different games were required to be played,” he responded.

At stumps on Day 4, Australia were 228-9, leading by 333 runs.