Washington Sundar was a very important inductee into the Indian squad for the second Test against New Zealand in Pune as a response to the disappointment of Bengaluru, where New Zealand’s left-handed batsmen, particularly Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra, proved dominant. This means that a spin-friendly wicket at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, along with his ability to bowl to southpaws and offering a batting advantage down the order, made him more of an asset.
The day was more of a sum-up affair as he started it off by bamboozling New Zealand by completely dismantling their batting lineup with a stellar performance in which he claimed seven wickets for just 59 runs on the first day of the Test. His impressive statistics were a testament to his ability and proved him right, though he was chosen amidst much criticism from cricketing legends like Sunil Gavaskar.
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Sunil Gavaskar aired his doubts on commentary too, saying he would have taken Kuldeep Yadav, who possesses the same skill in turning the ball away from left-handers too. He said, “What an inspired choice. He is picked in the XI because he can bat a little bit and bowl a little bit. The choice of Washington Sundar tells me that the Indian team was worried about their batting.”
However, other than Sunil Gavaskar’s reservations, Washington Sundar’s performances told much as he took the wickets of key men such as Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, and Glenn Phillips, thus spearheading the attack and helping the home team restrict the visiting Black Caps to a modest total of 259 runs.
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As India started their innings, problems began to emerge early as they lost captain Rohit Sharma quickly and then went on to finish the day on a paltry score of 16 runs with Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal still at the crease. The events of the day played out well to showcase Sundar’s power in changing the turnaround of the match portends strategic selection in the game.
