Washington sends NZ in a tailspin

Pune: With three overs left for tea, Washington Sundar was tossed the ball to have a crack at Rachin Ravindra and Daryl Mitchell.

The New Zealand duo had added 59 runs for the fourth wicket, and the visitors were on 197 for 3 from 59 overs on the opening day of the second Test on Thursday.

Safe to say, New Zealand were in control at this point. The crowd knew it, the fielders wanted nothing more than to catch the tea break, and skipper Rohit Sharma was running out of ideas, often wiping his face in frustration. 

Washington had bowled 13 overs until that point, and was rarely a threat, often erring on the short side with his length. In that same period, R Ashwin, showcased remarkable acuity to pick up a couple of wickets on an already-crumbling pitch.

And yet, by the time New Zealand’s innings came to an end, it was Ashwin who was applauding Washington off the field.

The Tamil Nadu players had combined for 10 wickets in bowling Tom Latham’s men out for 259.

Ashwin ended with three (3/64). Washington ended with seven (7/59). That’s how quickly fortunes change in Test cricket.

Imagine this, Washington wasn’t even in the reckoning for a spot until the management pulled him out of his Ranji Trophy commitments with Tamil Nadu after the first Test in Bengaluru.

Even then, there was no guarantee that he would be picked over Kuldeep Yadav or even Axar Patel, both of whom have been India’s go-to third spinners to bolster Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.

At the toss, one which India lost, it was revealed that Washington would be playing only his fifth Test. As things looked, Washington seemed a defensive option, what with his pacy short lengths, to complement the wicket-takers in the side.

He remained true to his understated style and was getting decent purchase from the wicket on occasion after coming on in the eighth over.

By then, it was obvious that the spinners would don the dominant role, but no one expected Washington to lead the way. He was expectedly tight with his line, but his fluctuating length gave the Kiwis to rock back and dink him about. All that changed once he bowled quite possibly his greatest delivery, for now.

With an in-form Rachin shaping up to defend a potentially harmless off-break, Washington landed on the middle and got the ball to turn just enough to clip the outside of the off stump.

If you hadn’t seen who the bowler was and just caught a glimpse of the delivery from point of release, you would have thought it was Ashwin bowling for he has sent down a fair few of those in the past. That’s how good that ball was, but, wait, there was more to come.

In the next ten unchanged overs he bowled, six of Washington’s overs would yield a wicket each. Four of those dismissals would be from him striking down the stumps.

Washington was always the type to keep the ball in the channel and bring the stumps into the picture, but to see him run through this, an impressive array of spin-tackling batters, was unexpected. He was a bit embarrassed by all the attention directed at him after every wicket since Rachin.

But, when Washington caught Ashwin clapping incessantly after he was given the ball to do the honours, he flashed a little smile. Maybe, he knew that he had matched Ashwin’s best for an innings (7/59) in a Test, or maybe he was just grateful for this day, this moment.