Making a comeback after three years, office takes seven-fer to put India in driver's seat

ON Day 1 of Tests in India, it's a common sight to see players clap R Ashwin off the field.

- SWAROOP SWAMINATHAN

On Thursday, Ashwin was the one doing the clapping after Washington Sundar, playing his first Test in over three years (England at Ahmedabad in March 2021), picked up the final New Zealand wicket. It was his seventh scalp across two sessions during a passage of play when the younger of the two Tamil Nadu spinners spun a web around the visiting batters.

It was one Hollywood ball to dismiss Rachin Ravindra which turned Washington's unexpected India cap from decent to promising. By the time the 25-year-old had walked off with the ball, his figures of 7/59 matched Ashwin's career-best. That's a statistical quirk but within the context of the first innings, he out-bowled the other spinners. In the process, he also vindicated the faith the support staff showed in him when they named him in the XI, at the expense of Kuldeep Yadav.