Sunil Gavaskar Throws Plate in Frustration as Washington Sundar Delivers Five No-Balls against New Zealand

In a hilarious turn of events after Sundar kept stepping over the line, Ravi Shastri joked on air that it all became too much for his fellow commentator Sunil Gavaskar, who apparently lost his cool and accidentally smashed a plate while enjoying his lunch on day one. Looks like Sundar's overstepping isn't just causing problems on the field!

"Sunil Gavaskar was having lunch. He smashed the plate on the wall," said Shastri humorously on air. "Thank god he's not fielding in the slip. Washington would have been close to Washington DC."

India bowled a total of nine no-balls in their innings against New Zealand, with only one of these coming via a pacer, in the shape of Akash Deep. The other eight were split amongst Washington Sundar, who bowled 5, while Ravindra Jadeja had 3.

Ian Smith, the former New Zealand cricketer, also summed up India's unusually high number of no-balls by referencing Gavaskar. "Oh dear. Another no-ball. Where is Sunny G? He is going to run after them with a mic in hand." Gavaskar entertained the humour himself when he returned on air and said, "Yeah, don't worry. I have my running shoes on. But on a serious note, it's something that needs to be looked at.

It was almost as if the Indian team went into a no-ball overdrive the first time Gavaskar mentioned how criminalistic in nature it is for a spinner to bowl no-balls. "Not acceptable," he said when Sundar overstepped for the first time. "With a fast bowler it is understandable, that the momentum of the body can sometimes take your foot over the line. But spinners? Players keep saying that there are things that are not under our control. Well, this is one thing under control, so might as well, be cautious."

But as soon as Gavaskar made the remark, all hell broke loose. Sundar and Jadeja combined to overstep six times in 15 overs.

Jadeja has historically struggled with the front-foot no-ball, opting to make maximum use of the crease and get as close to the batter as possible. While Jadeja has the unfortunate achievement of having taken wickets on no-balls on multiple occasions in Test cricket, it didn’t cause India too much damage on the day, as he took his 14th career five-fer in Mumbai. He also crossed Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma in terms of Test wickets taken.

Washington Sundar also continued his phenomenal form with ball, contributing with four wickets himself, including the crucial dismissals of Tom Latham and Rachin Ravindra. A very tall spinner, Sundar struggled with adjusting his stride in the first session, but found his range in time to take significant wickets.

New Zealand worked their way to 235 runs in their first innings, largely thanks to excellent hands played by Will Young and Daryl Mitchell. However, Sundar and Jadeja’s wickets ensured that India didn’t too many runs as they attempt to spark a fightback after two difficult losses to begin the series.