Watch: Washington Sundar receives standing ovation from 'proud' Gautam Gambhir after terrific 7-fer

India Head Coach Gautam Gambhir showed a heartwarming gesture for Washington Sundar after he bagged a 7-wicket haul in India vs New Zealand 2nd Test. Washington Sundar bagged a total of 7 wickets in India vs New Zealand 1st Test to dismantle the visitors on Day 1 of the match.

After Ravichandran Ashwin grabbed the first three wickets for India, Sundar attacked the opposition with his off-spin to eliminate the rest of the batters. Rohit Sharma backed Sundar to many consecutive overs as he bundled out New Zealand for just 259.

Also Read: Watch: Rohit Sharma ignores Virat Kohli for a DRS call, India lose the review in Pune Test

Gautam Gambhir gives a standing ovation to Washington Sundar

After the end of New Zealand's batting in 1st innings, Washington Sundar returned to the pavilion with his teammates as the MCA crowd cheered for his fabulous bowling show. India Head Coach Gautam Gambhir also gave a standing ovation to the Indian spinner from the pavilion.

Have a look at the video below.

pic.twitter.com/8fiA47rpDA

— Kirkit Expert (@expert42983) October 24, 2024

Washington Sundar gave away just 59 runs to capture 7 wickets. Earlier, Ravichandran Ashwin grabbed the first three wickets to become the highest-ever wicket-taker in ICC World Test Championship history with 189 wickets.

Also Read: Watch: Ravichandran Ashwin aggressively orders Sarfaraz Khan to stay out of review conversation

Washington Sundar replaced Kuldeep Yadav in playing 11 in 2nd Test

Notably, Washington Sundar replaced Kuldeep Yadav in the India vs New Zealand 2nd Test in Pune. The latter was part of the previous Test but could only pick 3 wickets in the match. Also, he went wicketless in the 2nd innings as India lost the game by 8 wickets.

Interestingly, Yadav has been part of many Test series in recent times but Rohit Sharma always bank upon Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja as first-choice spinners as they can also smack runs with the bat. Kuldeep Yadav is a left-arm unorthodox spinner and is also a regular member of the ODI and T20I teams.

However, after his average show in the 1st Test, India skipper went ahead with Sundar in the playing 11 and the decision emerged fruitful in the end. Sundar became the star of the show during IND vs NZ 1st Test in Pune.

Also Read: IND vs AUS: David Warner torn apart after comeback remark for Border-Gavaskar Trophy

Team India trail by 243 runs at Day 1 stumps

Against New Zealand's 1st innings total of 259, Team India piled up 16/1 in 1st innings at the stumps of Day 1. The home team lost opener Rohit Sharma for a duck as he lost his wicket to pacer Tim Southee.

Yashasvi Jaiswal (6*) and Shubman Gill (10*) will take the strike on Day 2. Earlier, the visitors won the toss and opted to bat first. Opener Devon Conway slammed a stunning 76-run knock while Rachin Ravindra added 65 runs. The rest of the batters failed to score a fifty.