Vivek Kaul: The market for lies
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Washington Sundar was preferred over Kuldeep Yadav in the test match India recently played against New Zealand at Pune. The social media erupted: Who is the better spinner? Why is India playing Washington ahead of Kuldeep? Are they so worried about their batting already? (Washington is a much better batter than Kuldeep and India had been bowled out for 46 in an innings in the test match before this match.) Even the legendary Sunil Gavaskar was critical of this decision while commentating on the test match.
As he put it: “Including Washington Sundar tells you they are worried about their batting. More than his bowling, they need his batting down the order as the cushion… I would have picked Kuldeep Yadav." It so turned out that Washington ended up picking up seven wickets in New Zealand’s first innings, immediately leading to those who were critical of his selection, including Gavaskar, calling it an inspired selection. Other reasons were also offered for Washington’s rather inspired selection.
He is an off-spinner and the New Zealand team had five left-hand batters. (For those not well-versed with cricket, when an off-spinner bowls an off-spinning ball to a left-hander, as he is more likely to do given that he is an off-spinner, the ball goes away from the bat of a left-hander, making it a leg-spinning delivery. Anyone who is slightly well versed with cricket will tell you that the ball going away from the bat is more difficult to play than a ball coming in.
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