Sundar shines with stellar figures

Washington Sundar celebrates the wicket of NZ’s Tim Southee with skipper Rohit Sharma in Pune yesterday. Pic/PTI

Last Saturday, when he slammed 152 for Tamil Nadu in a Ranji Trophy game against Delhi in Delhi, a Test recall might have been the last thing on Washington Sundar's mind. By Sunday night, news of his call-up for the second Test against New Zealand became official. On Tuesday afternoon, he joined up with his India colleagues for the first practice session ahead of the second game, and on Thursday evening, he conjured up his best figures in first-class cricket on Day One of the second Test at the MCA International Stadium.

To say that it has been a frenetic six days for the 25-year-old from Tamil Nadu will be an understatement. In his first Test in more than three and a half years, he was expected to be the understudy to R Ashwin, the senior offie with more than 500 scalps, and Ravindra Jadeja, who recently went past the 300-wicket mark.

All seven wickets in 3rd spell

Instead, it was Sundar who was the cynosure of more than 18,000 pairs of eyes at the ground. With a terrific display of intelligent, controlled off-spin bowling, Sundar picked up 7-59, all seven wickets coming in a third spell of 10.1 overs, to help India somewhat negate the disadvantage of losing the toss on a surface that will become progressively difficult for batting as the Test progresses.

Devon Conway during his 76

New Zealand's top order expressed its gratitude for being gifted with the best batting conditions of the match with a strong riposte once Tom Latham called right, battling their way to 197-3, a little before tea, when Rohit Sharma switched Sundar's ends and brought him on from the Pavilion End, from where Ashwin had picked up the first three wickets.

That move worked like a dream. With his first delivery, he cleaned up Rachin Ravindra, a thorn in India's side all series, with a magic ball that drifted into the left-hander and broke away on pitching to hit off-stump. It was the first act in a destructive passage of play during which Sundar hit the stumps five times and trapped Daryl Mitchell leg before.

Also Read: India 16/1 at stumps on day one of second Test, trail New Zealand by 243 runs

New Zealand lost their last seven wickets for 62 runs to be bowled out for 259, anything but non-competitive on a track that has held up quite nicely thus far, but may not stay that way for long. India had a tricky 40 minutes to negotiate, with the natural light dramatically fading, and lost Rohit in that period, squared up and bowled by Tim Southee without scoring. Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill survived a few anxious moments to go to stumps at 16-1, facing the prospect of a long day's toil on Friday.

Akash Deep fails to capitalise

Sundar was one of three changes India made from the Bangalore defeat, coming in for Kuldeep Yadav more to offer control, but he was the most impressive of India's performers. Akash Deep, preferred to Mohammed Siraj, had a day to forget while Sarfaraz Khan will be determined to justify keeping his place ahead of KL Rahul once it was clear that Gill had recovered completely from the stiff neck that kept him out of the first Test.

Brief scores
NZ 259 all out (D Conway 76, R Ravindra 65, M Santner 33; W Sundar 7-59, R Ashwin 3-64) v India 16-1 (S Gill 10')

Playing Ranji Trophy with red ball helped: Washington

The stunning re-emergence of Washington Sundar as a Test cricketer has a catalytic force of recent vintage behind it - his excellent outing for Tamil Nadu against Delhi. His 152, while batting at No. 3, and a six-wicket match haul earlier this month was enough to convince head coach Gautam Gambhir to fast-track the all-rounder into the India playing XI.

Sundar vindicated the call with an outing of 7-59 against New Zealand, and that too in his first Test since March 2021. The Tamil Nadu man duly acknowledged the significance of playing red-ball matches at the domestic level. "It was a great opportunity for me to play the Tamil Nadu v Delhi game because it's good to be playing [with the] red ball every now and then and keep getting the rhythm in red-ball [cricket] going - both with the bat and ball - and be consistent with it," he said.