The Senior Men's Selection Committee added all-rounder Washington Sundar to India's squad for the remaining Test matches against New Zealand on Sunday. Sundar was playing for Tamil Nadu in the Ranji Trophy match against Delhi; he remained not out at 152 for his team in the first innings of the game before he was able to claim two wickets on Sunday.
Sundar will join the team in Pune before the second Test, said the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in a release.
The 25-year-old has so far played four Tests after making his debut against Australia in 2021 in the famous Border-Gavaskar Trophy. His last Test appearance was in the home series against England at Ahmedabad the same year. In four Tests, Sundar has scored 265 runs and bagged six wickets. He also played for the Bangladesh T20I series earlier this month.
It came after India crashed to a comprehensive eight-wicket defeat against New Zealand at Bengaluru, which went down 0-1 in the three-Test home series. It was the first time that New Zealand beat India on Indian soil since 1988 (after 36 years) and only the third win in 37 Test matches for New Zealand against India on Indian soil.
With three spinners Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, and Kuldeep Yadav already in the side, Sundar is likely to replace one of them when India play the second Test at Pune, starting on October 24, if they decide to make a change in their combination.
India captain Rohit Sharma said that nothing much can be read from this solitary defeat as the team has the strength to bounce back in the series. "Games like these happen. We take the positives and move on. There are guys who have been in this situation before. We lost a game against England and won four games after that. Two Test matches to go and we know exactly what is needed from each one of us. We will try and put our best game forward," he said at the post-match presentation.
India's team for the second and third Tests against New Zealand: Rohit Sharma (C), Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Sarfaraz Khan, Rishabh Pant (WK), Dhruv Jurel (WK), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Siraj, Akash Deep, Washington Sundar.
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