Washington Sundar came out to bat in Vadodara ODI despite suffering injury in India's bowling innings.
An injured Washington Sundar walked out to bat in the first ODI between India and New Zealand at Vadodara on Sunday (January 11), prompting many to question the Gautam Gambhir-led management's decision making.
Sundar managed to bowl just five overs during New Zealand's innings. The left-hander, who later came out to bat at No. 8, was visibly struggling to run between the wickets but chipped in with a valuable run-a-ball 7 not out, adding 27* in 16 balls with KL Rahul for the seventh wicket to take India over the line with four wickets and an over to spare in the chase of 301.
A day after the game, the BCCI issued a statement, confirming that the spin-bowling all-rounder sustained a rib injury and was ruled out of the remainder of the series. The selection committee named Ayush Badoni as his replacement.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, former India cricketer Mohammad Kaif slammed the Indian team management for sending Sundar to bat despite the injury.
Kaif questioned the management for its double standards, citing Shubman Gill's recent example.
"You will remember when Shubman Gill was injured, he did not come out to bat in that Test match, the Kolkata Test. It was not a high-scoring game and people thought that even 20 or 30 runs from him could help India win, but he still did not bat. That was done to give full protection to the player so the injury would not aggravate. But the same approach was not applied with Sundar. That is why I feel it was a wrong call. KL Rahul's running between the wickets was affected. Even though India won the match, I feel there were higher chances of aggravating the injury in yesterday's game," Kaif said.
According to Kaif, it was a risky move that could have aggravated the injury and extend the player's absence from the team.
"If he is injured and you need runs at a run-a-ball, you should first try someone else. When a player is injured and you send him in under pressure, the injury can worsen. He couldn't run doubles even though the ball was going to deep point or square leg, and he was only managing singles. Although the required run rate was around a run-a-ball and the match was under control, I felt that sending an injured player was risky. What might have been a one-week or ten-day injury could stretch to 20, 25, or even 30 days," Kaif stated.
"I believe that was a wrong call. You could have sent Kuldeep, or anyone else, even Siraj or Prasidh Krishna, if you just needed to play out the run-a-ball situation. Only when it becomes absolutely unavoidable, right at the end, should you send Washington Sundar," he remarked.