India boasts one of the most daring wicketkeepers in Rishabh Pant, who found himself in an awkward situation during the Pune Test against New Zealand. Pant's clever idea to suggest Washington Sundar bowl fuller to Ajaz Patel in Hindi ended up backfiring on Day 1 of the match.
In a moment of misjudgment, Pant didn't realize that the Mumbai-born New Zealand spinner understood every word of their conversation. This amusing incident occurred towards the end of New Zealand's innings, with Patel batting alongside Mitchell Santner.
As Sundar sent a flighted ball outside off-stump, Patel expertly smashed it over the bowler's head towards the long-on boundary. It was at that moment Pant realized Patel's surprising understanding of Hindi.
"Washi aage daal sakta hai (you can bowl little fuller)," Pant told Sundar and the spinner complied but got hit for a four.
"Yaar mereko kya pata issey Hindi aati hai (I didn't realise that he knew Hindi)," Pant sheepishly realised after Patel's boundary.
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Ajaz Patel, a native of Mumbai, returned to his home state of Maharashtra to play in the Test match. The 36-year-old left India for New Zealand with his family at the age of 8.
During the match, Patel scored 4 runs before being dismissed by Sundar in the 78th over, just five deliveries after hitting a boundary.
Sundar achieved his career-best figures of 7 for 59, with Ravichandran Ashwin taking the remaining 3 wickets as India bowled out New Zealand for 259 after winning the toss.
Devon Conway led the scoring for New Zealand with 76 runs, while Rachin Ravindra contributed 65 runs for the Blackcaps. In response, India reached 16 for 1 at stumps, with Shubman Gill (10*) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (6*) at the crease after Rohit Sharma was dismissed for a duck by Tim Southee.
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