Washington Sundar was the standout bowler for India with seven wickets against New Zealand on Thursday but the 25-year-old said being part of a three-pronged spin attack, alongside R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, on the opening day of the second Test was a special experience.
After veteran spinner Ashwin did the early damage with 3/64, Sundar ripped through the Black Caps middle and lower order to finish with career-best figures of 7/59 to restrict them to 259 before India reached 16/1 at stumps on a riveting day in Pune.
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Jadeja went wicketless on the day but helped keep the tourists from building on their strong start.
“We communicated a lot. They brought a lot of qualities, skill sets and experience as well. That really helps for someone who is playing along with them. It definitely helped me today,” Sundar told reporters after the day’s play concluded.
“It’s special, isn’t it, to be playing in a game that both of them are a part of. I hope that we’ll get to play a lot more games together.”
Sundar was a late addition to the squad after India’s eight-wicket defeat in the series opener in Bengaluru and he said he was delighted with how things unfolded.
“Right from the start, getting to play this game and coming back to the Test squad, there are a lot of things that I can say mean a lot to me and are very special,” added Washington, who replaced Kuldeep Yadav in the eleven. “I’m grateful. I don’t think I’ll ever forget this day.”
“Honestly, whatever happened today is a pure dream-come-true moment for me. Living the dream is an unbelievable feeling. I actually manifested this to happen in this particular series for a good couple of weeks, so the way it came through, I’m really, really grateful.”
He further elaborated on his bowling technique and approach to challenging right-handed batters:
“I try and work on different wrist positions, and that really helped me today. Especially around tea, the ball got soft, and it wasn’t ideal for me to keep bowling at a good pace. I had to vary my deliveries, and the balls that I actually varied were the ones that got me the important wickets.
“My plan was to be accurate and consistently hit the right areas, expecting there would be something in the wicket to offer. After lunch, I varied my pace a bit more but always aimed for accuracy without giving anything easy to the batters.”
Sundar will add extra firepower to India’s long batting line-up having scored 152 in a recent domestic game and he said he was looking forward to Friday’s action.
“It’s going to be exciting,” the Tamil Nadu player added. “Hopefully, we can put a lot of runs on the board.”
“I think there will definitely be some spin available for the spinners, but today’s second session didn’t offer much. The moisture in the morning will help the bowlers, and I feel there will be spin throughout the game,” he stated.