India has added all-rounder Washington Sundar for the remaining two test matches of the ongoing series against New Zealand.
After a thumping 8-wicket defeat in the first test at Bengaluru, the Indian team management has decided to add Washington Sundar to the squad for the second and third test of the series.
Sundar will be the 5th spinner in the Indian squad as Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel are already part of the Indian squad which played the first test.
Sundar was playing in the Ranji Trophy Elite 2024-25 where he scored 152 runs for Tamil Nadu against Delhi batting at number 3. He picked up 2 wickets as well. He last played a test match back in March 2021 against England at Ahmedabad.
Washington Sundar has 6 wickets in 4 tests and has scored 265 runs in 6 innings at an average of 66.25 including three fifties to his name. He is a utility player and is rated quite highly by many in the Indian cricket circuit. Sundar was part of India’s T20I squad in the recent series against Bangladesh.
He is a utility player capable of winning matches with both bat and ball. He has had his issues with injuries over his career but he is quite young with a long career ahead of him in all three formats of the game. There are no other changes in the Indian squad except for Sundar’s addition.
“India wanting to fight back” says Rohit Sharma
Skipper Rohit Sharma was talking to the press after the first test when he said, “This team is wanting to fight back, wanting to stay in the game as long as possible and not give it easy to the opposition”.
Rohit said that it is very easy to let the game drift away after being behind but this team is not about that. He said that nothing went our way on Day 1 and they needed to start well on the second day after being all-out for 46 and the Kiwis being at around 190.
He further added that Rachin and Southee took the game away from them but how the batters fought back in the second innings was great. It felt like we were ahead at one stage (while batting in the second innings). And that was something he was proud of as the captain of the side.