The ongoing Test matches between India and New Zealand in Pune and Pakistan and England in Rawalpindi have witnessed the dominance of spin bowling, with tweakers etching their names in the record books.
In Pune, India’s decision to field three frontline spinners—Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, and Ravichandran Ashwin—proved fruitful on a spin-friendly surface. Sundar, playing his first Test in over three years, silenced critics by taking seven wickets in a row, triggering New Zealand’s collapse from 197/3 to 259 all out. His career-best Test figures and maiden fifer, along with Ashwin’s three wickets, marked the sixth instance of spinners claiming all ten wickets on day one of a Test in India.
Sundar’s five bowled dismissals placed him among the elite group of Indian players to achieve this feat in a Test innings. His figures were the third-best by an Indian against New Zealand in Tests and the joint-best with Ashwin in the 21st century. Ashwin, meanwhile, surpassed Nathan Lyon as the leading wicket-taker in the ICC World Test Championship with 189 scalps and became Test’s seventh-highest wicket-taker with 531 scalps.
In Rawalpindi, the pitch also favored spinners. England, who had scored over 500 runs in a day at the same venue in 2022, faced a different scenario this time. Sajid Khan’s six-wicket haul, the third-best spell by a spinner at the venue, led Pakistan’s spin attack to dismiss England for 267. All the overs in the innings were bowled by spinners, marking the first such instance in 142 years of Test cricket.
Pakistan’s spinners continued their dominance, taking all ten wickets in the first innings of a Test for the sixth time, including four against England. At the end of the day, Pakistan had reduced England to 73/3, with spinners Shoaib Bashir and Rehan Ahmed claiming two wickets each.
The ongoing matches highlight the resurgence of spin bowling in Test cricket. Whether spinners will continue to dominate and single-handedly win matches for their teams remains to be seen.
