It's God's plan – Washington Sundar on his game-changing spell against New Zealand

Washington Sundar had an incredible day in the office with his career-best Test numbers of 7/59 on the first day of the second Test in Pune. The impressive showdown from Washi skittled out New Zealand for a modest 259 while the off-spinner being included into the side after the first Test showed to the world why he is so highly regarded.

Talking at the end of day’s play, Washington Sundar highlighted how it was a dream come true moment for him and also used the iconic words “It was God’s plan” to underline his incredible heroics against the visiting Kiwis. It all started with the wicket of Rachin Ravindra, opening up the floodgates. Once the off-spinner had his eyes on the prize, there was no looking back.

Shedding light on his inclusion to the team, Washi said, “It's amazing to be living the dream. I manifested for this to happen in this particular series for a couple of weeks. The way it came through - I wasn't part of the first Test, and I was called for this particular Test and I was given an opportunity to play in the XI. Really grateful to the coach and captain. Unbelievable feeling.”

Highlighting his plan, Washi said, “I wanted to be very accurate no matter what situation I was bowling in or which batsman I was coming across. It's God's plan. Just came through really well and I just focussed in particular to hit the right areas consistently, change my pace little bit here and there, and really grateful for what happened.”

He also underscored the situations, stating, “We genuinely felt it will start spinning from Day 1. It did spin in the first session. But I don't think it did a lot in the second session. Probably settled down - the moisture wasn't there in the second session, but eventually it started spinning again.”

Sundar concluded by talking about the sequence of dismissals that he had, adding, “Unfair for me to choose one to be honest (favourite dismissal). Rachin Ravindra was batting really well, they were getting into a decent position and for me to get his wicket just before tea, and also Daryl Mitchell's wicket just after tea was a gamechanger I guess.”