IND vs NZ: After how many days is Washington Sundar playing a test match for India

Washington Sundar replaced Kuldeep Yadav in India’s playing XI for the Pune test against New Zealand.

India made three changes to the playing XI that lost the first IND vs NZ test in Bengaluru for the second test in Pune, which got underway on Thursday. One of those changes was the inclusion of spin all-rounder Washington Sundar.

Sundar was not part of the original squad, but was added to the squad after the Bengaluru test and got to play ahead of Axar Patel, who was in the initial squad.

On the eve of the Pune test, head coach Gautam Gambhir had hinted at Sundar’s inclusion, citing the presence of three left-handers in New Zealand’s top four, against whom Sundar would have a positive match-up as he turns the ball away from them. Plus, Sundar has been in good batting form and would add the batting depth to the side that Kuldeep couldn’t.

“We just felt that probably they [New Zealand] have four or five left-handers in the playing XI. That if we want to have another bowler who can take the ball away from the left-handers, it is always going to be useful for us,” Gambhir said on Wednesday.

“We believe that probably there are two [left-hand] opening batters and Rachin [Ravindra] in the middle order. So, we feel that if Washy can give us more control in the middle, it is always going to be good for us.”

While Sundar has been around the national team circuit for the past few years, this is only his fifth test match, having made his test debut in 2021 in the famous win at the Gabba against Australia.

IND vs NZ: When was the last time Washington Sundar played a test match for India?

Washington Sundar’s last test match appearance came in March 2021 against England in Ahmedabad, that is 3 years, 7 months and 20 days ago (considering the start of that test match).

Meanwhile, Tom Latham won the toss and elected to bat first. Apart from Sundar replacing Kuldeep, Shubman Gill and Akash Deep have replaced KL Rahul and Mohammed Siraj in India’s XI.

Teams:

India (Playing XI): Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant(w), Sarfaraz Khan, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Akash Deep, Jasprit Bumrah

New Zealand (Playing XI): Tom Latham(c), Devon Conway, Will Young, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Blundell(w), Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Ajaz Patel, William O’Rourke

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