Sundar and Ashwin
In a cricket match, 11 players of a team play on the field and all players contribute in some way to getting the opposing team out. However, it is very rare to see such a situation where some players together destroy the opposing team. Something similar was seen in the second Test match played between India and New Zealand in Pune. Today was the first day of this match and the Indian team players bowled out New Zealand, who batted first, for 259 runs. In this way, the Indian team achieved a unique feat in the history of its Test cricket.
After winning the toss and coming to bat first, New Zealand took the first three knocks from experienced Indian spinner R Ashwin. He poached Tom Latham, Will Young and Devon Conway. After this, Washington Sundar took charge and created history by killing a total of 7 batsmen one after another.
Sundar’s explosive return
In fact, through this match, Sundar returned to the Indian team after a long time. He played his last Test match in March 2021 and now, after more than 3 years, he was given a chance in the playing eleven. Seizing this opportunity with both hands, Sundar made his first victim in the form of Rachin Ravindra. Thus, after 1329 days, his first proving ground fell into his bag. After this, he showed the way to the pavilion to 7 New Zealand batsmen taking a series of wickets. The interesting thing is that Sundar removed 5 out of 7 batsmen. In this way, Sundar became the fifth Indian bowler to remove 5 batsmen in an innings of a Test match.
Indian bowlers who bowled the most batsmen in an innings.
- 5 – Jasubhai Patel v Australia, Kanpur 1959
- 5 – Bapu Nadkarni v Australia, Brabourne 1960
- 5 – Anil Kumble vs South Africa, Johannesburg 1992
- 5 – Ravindra Jadeja vs Australia, Delhi 2023
- 5 – Washington Sundar vs New Zealand, Pune 2024
R Ashwin and Washington Sundar together took all 10 wickets. Apart from these two, only one other player, Rishabh Pant, contributed in all of New Zealand. Pant actually took 2 catches behind the wicket. In this way, only 3 Indian players together defeated the entire New Zealand team. This is the third time in the history of Indian Test cricket that only 3 players contributed to getting the opposing team out. Before this, Jasu Patel, Chandu Borde and Abbas Ali Baig led the Australian team in the Kanpur Test in 1959 and S. Venkataraghavan, Bhagwat Chandrashekhar and Chandu Borde beat New Zealand in the Delhi Test.
Latest cricket news
