Gautam Gambhir is on the radar of the former Indian cricketer after Washington Sundar was sent in to bat along with KL Rahul in the last game, which may have aggravated his injury which forced the all-rounder out of the series.
There has been a tremendous turn in the battle of Washington Sundar. India played their first ODI of the year 2026 and faced their first major injury crisis in the form of Washington Sundar. Sundar bowled 5 overs during the Vadodara match and soon caught his back while walking off the field.
He never returned to the field in that game, but he had to come in to bat at no. 8 When India needed runs on a run-a-ball. This angered former cricketers including Mohammad Kaif, as they felt that this decision had increased Washington Sundar’s injury.
Mohammad Kaif accuses Gautam Gambhir of biased treatment of Indian players
Washington Sundar was sent in when India needed 22 run-a-ball, and he remained unbeaten on 7 run-a-ball. However, Mohammad Kaif commented on his YouTube channel and questioned the decision, which according to him, worsened Sundar’s injury.
He mentioned the incident during the first Test against South Africa, when Shubman Gill did not bat further after suffering a serious neck injury. Kaif feels that forcing Sundar to bat could extend his comeback by 25-30 days. Gill did not come out to bat when India lost the match by 30 runs chasing 124 runs.
“You remember when Shubman Gill was injured, he did not come to bat in that Test match, the Kolkata Test. It was a high-scoring game, and people thought that even his 20 or 30 runs could give India a win, but he still did not bat. This was done to give complete protection to the player so that the injury does not aggravate.”
“But the same approach was not applied to Washington Sundar. So I think it was a wrong decision. KL Rahul’s running between the wickets was affected. Even though India won the match, I think the chances of aggravating the injury in yesterday’s game were high,” Kaif said on his YouTube channel.
He further said that when India needed runs run-a-ball, they could have easily crossed the line with someone like Kuldeep Yadav, especially with KL Rahul still unbeaten at the crease. “An injury of one week or 10 days can extend to 20, 25 or even 30 days,” he said.
Ayush Badoni replaced Washington Sundar for New Zealand series
Indian all-rounder Washington Sundar was eventually ruled out of the remainder of the series due to a rib injury and was replaced by Delhi’s Ayush Badoni, who earned his first national cap.
Badoni has been Delhi’s sporadic young talent, leading them as their captain across all formats. At the domestic level as well as for India A, he has scored runs whenever he has got a chance. The batting all-rounder can also play well with the ball.
“I believe it was a wrong call. If you needed to deal with a run-a-ball situation, you could have sent Kuldeep, or anyone else, even Siraj or Prasidh Krishna. Only when it becomes absolutely unavoidable, in the end, you should send Washington Sundar,” Kaif, however, never shied away from blaming the Indian management for the situation.
Mohammad Kaif cited ‘lack of communication’ when Hardik Pandya was dropped from ODI.
Mohammad Kaif has also raised questions over Hardik Pandya’s exclusion from the New Zealand ODI series as the CoE had declared him unfit to bowl 10 overs, resulting in him being rested from the ODIs, but the all-rounder is bowling the full 10 overs for Baroda in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
“Look, we have the same situation here which we have discussed many times before. Mohammed Siraj was given a break, but he was playing for Hyderabad. When you give someone a break for workload management, it is to allow the player to rest, work out in the gym, fix any problems and get fit for India. But now he is playing for his state.
“So this is where communication gap arises. Whether you take Mohammed Shami for example, or Siraj, or Hardik Pandya, there is a communication gap,” Mohammad Kaif said.
“For India, Hardik provides balance and finishing options. If you talk about finishing, KL Rahul will be relieved because he is the only visible finisher currently. Suppose Iyer gets out early or Virat gets out early, you will really miss Hardik. The target was 300, which is a big score,” Mohammad Kaif said on the importance of Hardik Pandya in the Indian ODI team.
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