Washington Sundars 7/59 leaves Gavaskar red-faced; Legend forced to make striking U-turn: ‘What an inspired choice’

Legendary Indian cricketer and former captain Sunil Gavaskar has termed the inclusion of Washington Sundar in the ongoing second Test against New Zealand as an “inspired selection”. At the toss, India captain Rohit Sharma announced that Washington Sundar has joined the team in place of Kuldeep Yadav for the crucial second Test against New Zealand at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune. There was a lot of talk about Sundar’s inclusion but he proved his critics wrong by scoring his first Test win and posting his best figures in the longest format.

In the ongoing second Test, Washington Sundar has managed to prevail against capable batsmen like Rachin Ravindra, Tom Blundell and Glenn Phillips. As soon as Sundar Tim Southee bowled, the off-spinner registered his first fifer in Tests.

Sunil Gavaskar, who was present as a commentator at the time, said: “What a brilliant choice. He is chosen in the starting XI because he can bat a bit and bowl a bit.” The former India captain’s words came on the same day he had earlier criticized Sundar’s inclusion, saying that Kuldeep Yadav should have played instead.

As soon as Gavaskar said this, the cameras panned to Gautam Gambhir, who was chatting with assistant coach Ryan Ten Doeschate.

Sundar brings the ball to victory and dismisses Rachin Ravindra

Earlier, Washington Sundar had probably produced the ball of the game when he bowled a ripper to get through Rachin Ravindra’s defence. The left-handed batsman was strong but Sundar’s phenomenal ball ended his 65-run knock.

Similarly, Sundar delivered good deliveries to rattle the stumps of Tom Blundell, Tim Southee and Ajaz Patel. In the end, Sundar returned with his best Test figures and helped India defeat New Zealand by 259 in the first innings of the second Test.

Washington Sundar eventually returned with figures of 7-59 in 23.1 overs. From 179/3, New Zealand reached a total of 259, losing their last seven wickets for just 80 runs.

Earlier, before the start of the second Test between India and New Zealand, players like Sunil Gavaskar and Anil Kumble had questioned the inclusion of Washington Sundar in the playing XI.

“The selection of Washington Sundar shows me that the Indian team was worried about their batting power. He is there not only because of his off-spin but also because he can score more runs in the lower order. Yes, I think a lot has happened there. “There is a lot of debate about the number of left-handed batsmen in the New Zealand batting line-up, but if I had to do that, I would have picked another guy like Kuldeep Yadav to fend off the ball from the left-handers can. He has a nice hand. “Obviously not as accurate as Sundar either,” Gavaskar had said.

Even Murali Kartik said he was surprised that the team management picked Sundar ahead of Kuldeep.

For the ongoing Test, India made three changes to their playing XI as the think tank brought in Akash Deep, Shubman Gill and Sundar in place of Mohammed Siraj, KL Rahul and Kuldeep.

New Zealand also made a change to their lineup, bringing in Mitchell Santner in place of the injured Matt Henry.

Earlier, New Zealand defeated India by eight wickets in the opening Test of the series at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.