Indian national cricket team all-rounder Washington Sundar thanked captain Rohit Sharma and head coach Gautam Gambhir for giving him the opportunity to play the second Test against the New Zealand national cricket team.
Washington Sundar absolutely dominated with the ball on the first day of the match on Thursday, October 24 at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune.
Washington Sundar shines for India
Team India made three major changes to their playing XI for the Pune Test after losing the series opener in Bengaluru. Pacer Mohammed Siraj and batsman KL Rahul were dropped and replaced by in-form Akash Deep and Sarfaraz Khan.
Another important change was the inclusion of Washington Sundar directly in the playing eleven. Notably, the all-rounder was not initially named in the Indian team and was only added to the team after the first Test loss.
Sundar replaced Kuldeep Yadav in the playing XI and this did not go down well with many pundits. India head coach Gautam Gambhir and captain Rohit Sharma came under fire for benching Kuldeep, but Sundar made sure to silence the critics with his performance.
The 25-year-old emerged as a nightmare for the Kiwis as in his 23.1 overs he dismissed seven batsmen and conceded just 59 runs.
I knew he was going to play 2 days ago – Washington Sundar
Speaking after the play on Day 1, Washington Sundar said that the first innings performance was a dream come true moment for him. He gave a special mention to Gambhir and Rohit for trusting him and revealed that he was aware of their selection in the XI for the past few days.
“Honestly, whatever happened today is a dream come true moment for me. Living the dream is an incredible feeling. I actually stated that this happened in this particular series for a couple of weeks, that’s how it happened. Really grateful to the coach and the captain, amazing feeling,” Sundar said on JioCinema.
“I knew I was going to play 2 days ago. It was a great opportunity, especially since I wasn’t part of the series team in the first test. Having the opportunity after the first test after the call… I am very grateful,” he added.
Ashwin asked me to try a couple of things that worked well – Washington Sundar
Washington Sundar further revealed how Ravichandran Ashwin’s advice helped him create problems with the New Zealand batsman.
“It was incredible, honestly. We had a lot of communication. We were very curious to see what the wicket had to offer from the start. Ashwin asked me to try a couple of things that worked well, especially the spell before tea. I am truly grateful for his advice,” said Washington Sundar.
While talking about his strategy for the match, Washington Sundar stated that he just tried to be precise and consistent with his lines and lengths.
“I try to work on different wrist positions and that really helped me today. Especially at tea time, the ball would get soft and it was not ideal for me to continue playing at a good pace. I had to vary my deliveries, and the balls I really varied were the ones that gave me the important wickets.
“My plan was to be precise and consistently attack the right areas, hoping there was something to offer. After lunch, I varied my pace a little more, but I always looked for precision without giving anything easy to the batsmen,” added Washington Sundar.