AHMEDABAD: Washington Sundar has big shoes to fill in this Indian side, especially in home Tests. He will be tasked with filling the hole left behind by R Ashwin's retirement post the last home season.
On Thursday, Washington, on the back of a very solid away Tour to England, wanted to get in on the action. He started warming up less than 30 minutes into the Test. When he ultimately got his chance, his trademark drift was very much visible. It accounted for Khary Pierre.
But the Tamil Nadu spinner wasn't at his eye-catching best among the spinners employed by the hosts. That honour went to Kuldeep Yadav, who broke through the spine of the visiting batting with the dismissal of Shai Hope on the stroke of lunch.
It was a delicious appetiser, slightly tossed up before it landed on a good length area but outside the line of the stumps. Hope, who had no trouble until then, couldn't resist a full-blooded cover drive. As soon as the ball hit the deck, it spun in before hitting the off-stump. It wasn't the magic ball that he produced to bowl Zak Crawley at Dharamsala last year but it was not a dissimilar dismissal. Plenty of fizz, stock delivery, enough spin to take it through the gate... it was everything you would want to see from a left-arm wrist spinner.
Do not underestimate the importance of the 30-year-old starting the series from the perspective of his still fledgling red-ball career. He has played only 13 Tests in a journey spanning over eight years. The last time he played the longest format, it came against New Zealand in Bengaluru in October 2024. Since then, he has had to go through rehab before sitting out the entire England Test series because of factors pertaining to team balance and combination.
At the toss, India could have easily eschewed Yadav to go with Axar Patel but they went with the former. And it was an assured beginning from the UP spinner who ended up bowling more balls than the other two slower bowlers combined. Is that the team management telling him that they are ready to make him the main spinner in these conditions?
That's hard to tell with this support staff but it looks likely that he has three more innings to stake a claim before the world champions come calling in November. As and when the visitors start batting again, Yadav will be itching to give it a good go on a surface already showing signs of some spin friendly spots.