'Grateful to coach and captain' - Washington Sundar sheds light on career-best performance in Pune

Washington Sundar was in red-hot form with the ball on Day 1 of the second Test between India and New Zealand at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune on Thursday, October 24. He was drafted into the side mainly to cause problems for the left-handed batters in the New Zealand side. However, he troubled left-handers as well as right-handers to finish with figures of 7/59, his best in First-Class cricket.

After the end of play on Day 1, the star of the show spoke about his awe-inspiring performance. Sundar made a comeback to the Test arena after 41 months as he was added to the squad after the completion of the first Test in Bengaluru. The all-rounder expressed his gratitude to coach Gautam Gambhir and captain Rohit Sharma for putting him straight into the playing XI in the second Test.

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"The way it came through, fact that I wasn't part of the first Test and I was called for this particular Test and given the opportunity to play in the XI, I was really grateful to the coach and captain. Unbelievable feeling. It was God's plan, just came through really well. I just focused to hit the particular areas, changed my pace here and there, just really grateful," Sundar told JioCinema.

The pitch provided a good amount of assistance for the spinners and Sundar made the most of it. The Tamil Nadu cricketer said that the pitch spun in the first session but not so much in the second. Sundar felt that the pitch settled down before eventually helping the spinners in the third session.

"We genuinely felt it will start spinning from day one. It did spin in the first session but don't think it did a lot in the second. The pitch settled down from the third session, but eventually it did spin," the 25-year-old stated.

New Zealand were in a strong position at 197/3 but Sundar's phenomenal spell before and after the Tea break bundled out the visitors for 259.

Sundar picks Rachin, Mitchell as favourite wickets 

Sundar was asked to pick his favourite wicket from the seven he took on Day 1. The youngster was reluctant to choose but eventually opted for Rachin Ravindra and Daryl Mitchell's wickets.

"Unfair for me to choose one. Certainly Rachin Ravindra because he was batting well. Daryl Mitchell's wicket as well was game changer," Sundar mentioned.

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India finished Day 1 on 16/1 after Rohit was dismissed by Tim Southee in the third over for a nine-ball duck. Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal remained unbeaten at the crease as India trail New Zealand's first innings score by another 243 runs.