Rohit Sharma was bombarded by criticism when he revealed the changes in India’s Playing XI for the second Test against New Zealand on Friday. The management decided to rest Kuldeep Yadav to make way for Washington Sundar, who was only drafted into the Test squad last Sunday after the team's defeat in the series opener at Bengaluru. But Sundar shut all that negativity with a career-best seven-wicket haul in Pune, an effort that left head coach Gautam Gambhir delighted.

A knock of 152 batting at No. 3 for Tamil Nadu and a six-wicket match haul on a fairly flat track at the Arun Jaitley Stadium over a week back in the ongoing Ranji Trophy tournament was enough to convince Gambhir, a long-time backer of Washington, to fast-track the all-rounder into India squad, and subsequently into the playing XI for the second Test. But the move was neither received well on social media, nor among veteran cricketers - former India captain Sunil Gavaskar lashing out at the decision on-air on Thursday.

Washington, however, vindicated the call with an outing of seven for 59 against New Zealand, his career-best first-class figure, that too in his first appearance in a Test match since March 2021.

Following the incredible performance that saw Sundar single-handedly fold New Zealand for 259 on the opening day of the second Test, Gautam Gambhir couldn't keep calm as he stood up from his seat and applauded the youngster from the dressing room.

'Playing with red-ball in Ranji Trophy helped'

Washington mentioned how playing red-ball cricket at domestic level was the reason behind his success in Pune.

“It was a great opportunity for me to play Tamil Nadu-Delhi game because it's good to be playing (with the) red-ball every now and then and keep getting the rhythm in red-ball (cricket) going — both with the bat and ball — and be consistent with it,” Washington told the media during his post-day press meet.

The 25-year-old underlined how helpful it was for him to get to bowl a lot of overs in the Ranji game against Delhi.

“The fact that I also got to bowl a lot of overs in that game definitely helped. I am really grateful for this day, I don't think I will ever forget this day, (it was) very special,” he said.

Washington said his intention is to improve his overall skills without getting moulded as a particular style of all-rounder.

“(About the) perception, I shouldn't be thinking too much about it, I should just be focusing on what I can do as a person, as a cricketer to keep getting better, to find that best version of myself,” he said.

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