All-rounder Washington Sundar picked up from where he left off in Pune, picking up two crucial wickets for India against New Zealand in the third and final Test on Friday at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium. Sundar dismissed the in-form Tom Latham and Rachin Ravindra with identical dream deliveries, coming round the wicket and castling the two New Zealand batters by beating their defence comprehensively. Sundar expectedly was within his rights to be animated after his first wicket – going off in celebration, but no one knows why Sarfaraz Khan had to get carried away.
Sundar, coming off a match-haul of 11 wickets, sprang into action, picking two out of the three New Zealand wickets to fall. After Akash Deep gave India the opening breakthrough in the form of Devon Conway, Sundar got the better of Latham and Rachin. More importantly, the manner of those dismissals is what takes the cake. Latham plunged forward in defence, only to get beaten by the rip. The ball pitched just outside off, maintained its line and crashed onto the stumps. Four overs later, Ctrl C, Ctrl V.
But what was interesting to see was Sarfaraz’s reaction after Ravindra was dismissed. Standing at short-leg, Sarfaraz got in Ravindra’s face to celebrate the wicket. This wasn’t the only time Sarfaraz’s tactics were questionable. A few overs later, the India youngster’s constant chirping left Daryl Mitchell miffed, which needed an intervention from captain Rohit Sharma.
How the match has panned out thus far
India have begun the Mumbai Test well. Trying to prevent a 0-3 whitewash, which, if achieved, would inflict on India, their first clean sweep in a home Test series since the year 2000, India had New Zealand placed at 92/3. After Latham won the toss and opted to bat, Akash Deep didn’t waste time and trapped Conway out LBW to give India an early wicket. Latham and Will Young added 44 runs for the second wicket before Sundar began doing his thing.
India made one change to their Playing XI, getting Mohammed Siraj back in for the ill Jasprit Bumrah. The India pacer, who flew home to Ahmedabad with India because he wasn’t well, is yet to recover from a ‘viral illness’, revealed BCCI moments after the toss. The news comes one day after Bumrah became Mumbai Indians’ costliest retention among all five players. Siraj and Akash Deep had limited role to play, as with the pitch beginning to turn already, Sundar and Ravichandran Ashwin bowling 17 overs between them at one stage.
But while the morning session belonged to India, New Zealand clawed back into the match with Daryl Mitchell and Young adding a much-needed 87-run partnership. As New Zealand went past the 150-run mark, batting Mumbai’s sapping heat, Ravindra Jadeja brought India back in the game, first dismissing Young for a well-made 71 and then cleaning up Tom Blundell for a duck.
New Zealand’s running between the wicket was immensely hampered, with the batters settling for singles when doubles were readily available on comparatively easier conditions. Such is the level of heat and humidity at the Wankhede. The sea breeze that usually provides respite during the afternoon has gone missing. Washington Sundar ran out of T-shirts, eventually having to put on Dhruv Jurel’s jersey and two sweat bands on his wrists.
