IND vs NZ | Twitter in awe as Sundar lives upto his name with ripper to castle Rachin enroute seven-fer

SportsCafe Desk

BySportsCafe Desk, SportsCafe Editor

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There is some inherent pressure that comes with being bestowed as royal a name as Washington Sundar, the forename a historical symbol of bravery and tribute to his godfather, and the surname translating to beautiful. Thankfully, the young Chennaite more than lives up to it, as he proved in Pune.

New Zealand failed to get anywehre clsoe to their Bengaluru heroics on Day 1 of the second Test at Maharshtra Cricket Association Stadium as they succumbed to 259 all-out after opting to bat first. The visitors were well placed at 197/3 at the stroke of Tea, courtesy of half-centuries from Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra, but a sensational Washington Sundar spell turned the game on its head across the brief break. The Tamil Nadu spinner, roped into the squad this week itself for just his fourth Test appearance and first since 2021, delivered 61 deliveries for just 20 runs and scalped seven wickets in the process to finish with dream figures of 23.1-4-59-7. The singlehanded collapse all began with what was the pick of his seven wickets -- an unplayable ripper to the on song Rachin Ravindra, coming on the back of a second Test ton and looking fluent during a composed half-century.

Facing the first ball of the 60th over with Sundar trundling in from around the stumps, Rachin waited patiently while the red cherry dipped and landed on a good length while angling towards leg stumps. The southpaw only took a tentative stride forward, protecting his pads with the willow and head bowed as per the textbook, but the youngster failed to account for the turn his counterpart was extracting off the deck. The SG dropped just in front of the bat, spun sharply to just beat the outside edge and emphatically crashed into the peeking off-stump to stun the Black Cap all hands up.

Sundar was unsurprisingly elated with the top-notch effort as he leapt in delight while Ravindra harked back at his stumps, taken aback at the sheer quality of the delivery much like all of Twitterati.

Beauty!!

Gone

Well played

Gone

What a comeback

Crumbled

Best

Time to pay up

Class apart

Superb

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