Washington Sundar didn't waste any time and made his presence felt straightaway as the all-rounder was picked ahead of Kuldeep Yadav in the second Test against New Zealand in Pune. He completed his maiden five-wicket haul, and returned with clinical figures reading 7 for 59, helping India fold the New Zealand first innings for 259.
The spinner started slow but crashed the Kiwi party towards the end of second session of the opening day of the match. It started with him removing in-form Rachin Ravindra with a peach of a delivery. Ravindra was well settled, showing good composure, but was outdone by a ball turning away from the left-handed batter. The ball beat the Bengaluru-origin Kiwi cricketer, who bend forward to defend, and knocked the off stump on its way.
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Ravindra was dismissed for 65, which reduced New Zealand to 197/4. There was no stopping Sundar then, who provided his side with yet another breakthrough at the stroke of Tea by cleaning up Tom Blundell for 3.
The inroads from Sundar continued in the final session as he started by trapping Daryl Mitchell LBW for 18, and went to remove other Kiwi batters one after the other. Glenn Phillips, Tim Southee, Ajaz Patel, and Mitchell Santner were other batters dismissed by the all-rounder.
Earlier, before the proceedings kicked-off at MCA Stadium in Pune, legendary cricketer Sunil Gavaskar reckoned India may have panicked by including Sundar ahead of Kuldeep. The ex-cricketer also mentioned that Sundar was in the XI because of his batting and he would have stuck with Kuldeep.
"It feels like a bit of a panic decision taken by Team India. You do not make three changes to the squad often," Gavaskar was quoted as saying by PTI on broadcast after the toss on Thursday.
"I don't see a lot of teams making three changes unless there are injury concerns. Including Washington Sundar tells you they (India) are worried about their batting. More than his bowling, they need his batting down the order as the cushion," Gavaskar said. "Yes, there is a lot of talk about the left-handers in the New Zealand batting unit, but I would have picked Kuldeep Yadav, who can also turn it away from a left-hander," he added.
However, Gavaskar took a U-turn soon after Sundar completed his five-wicket haul, calling the all-rounder an "inspired selection" on air. He added: "picked in the XI because he can bat a little bit, because New Zealand have too many left-handers."
Sundar completed his five-wicket haul by dismissing Southee, who was one of the fifth batter cleaned up by the spinner. If we focus on all his seven wickets, Sundar removed four right-handed batters and three left-handed batters.
Common sense selection. In-form seamer in. When pitch is offering a lot, you dont need an artiste like Kuldeep, a tall, quick, finger spinner will do. #INDvNZ
Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) October 24, 2024
Meanwhile, Sanjay Manjerakar backed the team's decision to hand Sundar a chance ahead of Kuldeep. "Common sense selection. In-form seamer in. When pitch is offering a lot, you don’t need an artist like Kuldeep, a tall, quick, finger spinner will do," Manjerakar tweeted.
India in response lost Rohit Sharma, who was cleaned up by Southee for a duck. Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill are batting in the middle.
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