In Stats: Washington Sundar sets Indian record in dream comeback at Pune Test

Washington Sundar relished a stunning comeback in the Indian Test team with a 7-fer in the first innings of the Pune Test. The spinner also set a special record in the ongoing World Test Championship cycle for India.

In Short

• India spinners dominated New Zealand in Pune Test match
• Washington Sundar picked up 7 wickets in the game
• Washi set several milestones with his stunning bowling in Pune

Washington Sundar repaid the selectors' faith with a stunning comeback in the Test team. Playing at the MCA Stadium in Pune, Washington picked up 7 wickets on Day 1 of the 2nd Test match, forcing a massive collapse in New Zealand's batting line-up.

In his first Test match outing in nearly three and a half years, Washington dominated India's bowling exploits despite the presence of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, who have been permanent fixtures for India in home Tests for a while now. On the first day of the Pune Test match, Washington's bowling was all about pitching in the right areas. The spinner dropped the ball in the good length, on middle and off, and then spun it away from the left-handers. To right-handers, Washi bowled under-cutters and flat deliveries, putting the entire New Zealand line-up in trouble.

He was so dominant in the first innings of the Pune Test that the Tamil Nadu player became the first Indian right-arm spinner apart from R Ashwin to pick a five-fer since 2011. The last time an Indian right-arm spinner had picked up a fifer bar Ashwin was Harbhajan Singh in Cape Town.

India vs New Zealand, 2nd Test, Day 1: Full Scorecard | Highlights

Washington Sundar's accuracy has been hailed many times in white ball cricket and that was on the show once again as the spinner bowled out 5 batters. This was the first time since Ravindra Jadeja's 2-23 spell vs Australia that an Indian bowler had shattered the stumps of 5 batters in a single innings.

Dismissing Most Batters Bowled In An Innings (India)

5 Jasubhai Patel vs Aus Kanpur 1959
5 Bapu Nadkarni vs Aus Brabourne 1960
5 Anil Kumble vs SA Joburg 1992
5 Ravindra Jadeja vs Aus Delhi 2023
5 Washington Sundar vs NZ Pune 2024

Best WTC 2023-25 Figures For India

Washington Sundar overtook Ravichandran Ashwin's best figures in an innings in the ongoing WTC cycle. Washi's 7/59 now ranks ahead of Ashwin's 7/71. These are the only two Indian bowlers in the ongoing WTC cycle to pick 7 wickets in an innings.

Bar these two, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj have picked 6 wickets in an innings, while Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav have picked up 5 wickets in an innings.''

Best figures for India vs NZ in Tests

8/72 S Venkatraghavan Delhi 1965
8/76 EAS Prasanna Auckland 1975
7/59 R Ashwin Indore 2017
7/59 Washington Sundar Pune 2024

Spinners Taking 10 Wickets on Day 1

After a fast-bowling domination in the first Test match of the series, it truly turned out to be a spinners' day out in Pune. Not many would have expected that Indian spinners would pick all 10 wickets on Day 1 in a Test match, given the fact that Jasprit Bumrah was in sensational form in the Bengaluru Test. Also, the Pune track was not a rank turner or for that matter dusty either. However, the spinners did come into play and rolled over the New Zealand batting line-up in 79.1 overs.

Spinners taking all 10 1st innings wickets on Day 1 of a Test in India

• Ind vs NZ Pune 2024
• Ind vs Eng Dharamsala 2024
• Ind vs Eng Chennai 1973
• Ind vs Aus Chennai 1964
• Ind vs Aus Kolkata 1956
• Eng vs Ind Kanpur 1952

After the day's play, Washington thanked Gautam Gambhir and Rohit Sharma, his coach-captain duo, for their faith in him.

"It's amazing to be living the dream. I mean, I manifested this especially to happen in this particular series for a couple of weeks and, uh the way it came through, especially the fact that I wasn't part of the first Test and I was called for this particular test and I was given the opportunity to play in the XI. Very grateful to the coach and the captain. I mean, unbelievable feeling," Sundar said after the game.

Sundar will hope to continue his form and hope to be named in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy squad.