Rishabh Pant. (Source – Getty Images)
Washington Sundar wreaked havoc on Day 1 of the second Test between India and New Zealand in Pune. He picked seven wickets playing a Test for India after a gap of over three years. As a result, New Zealand were bundled out for just 259 runs. During the magical spell, Sundar was provided some assistance by Rishabh Pant from behind the wicket which became a cause of laughter.
New Zealand spinner Ajaz Patel was batting and Sundar was planning for his wicket. Just as he was about to take the mark, Pant advised the 25-year-old to bowl a fuller delivery, in Hindi. The India spinner followed the advice only to get smashed for a boundary over long on. Pant then tried bailing out by saying he did not know the Patel was well-versed in the Hindi language.
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“You can bowl him fuller…I did not know he knows Hindi,” said Pant.
Here’s the video of the incident:
In today’s episode of 𝘒𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘙𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘣𝘩 𝘗𝘢𝘯𝘵! 👀😂#INDvNZ #IDFCFirstBankTestTrophy #JioCinemaSports #TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/LoUC31wADr
— JioCinema (@JioCinema) October 24, 2024
We knew it would start spinning from Day 1: Sundar
Sundar was inducted into the squad to tackle the left-handed batters of New Zealand. He eventually surpassed the expectations to pick a career-best figures of 7/59. He sent back the opposition’s key players such as Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, and Glenn Phillips. After the end of the day’s play, the Tamil Nadu spinner chose Rachin’s wicket as his favourite. Notablt, Rachin was the Player of the Match in the first Test for his 134-run knock.
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“Just focused on hitting the right areas consistently. We knew it would start spinning from Day 1. (On whether there was a favourite wicket) Certainly the Rachin Ravindra wicket, because he was batting really well, and even the Daryl Mitchell wicket,” said Sundar.
Speaking of India, they ended up scoring 16 runs before stumps for the loss of their captain Rohit Sharma, who was he was dismissed for a duck. Youngsters, Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal will continue their train on Day 2 for India.