Washington Sundar’s place in the Indian cricket team has become a topic of discussion due to his weakening influence with the ball during the reign of Gautam Gambhir. Former Indian cricketer Mohammad Kaif has openly expressed concerns over how Washington Sundar has been used in recent months.
Despite Gautam Gambhir’s bat-deep line-up and preference for multi-skilled players, Sundar’s biggest strength is making mistakes at the wrong time, as pointed out by Kaif. Even though he is getting regular opportunities, his bowling has not been as per what is expected from a frontline spinner in India across all formats.
Washington Sundar will have to work a lot on his bowling: Mohammad Kaif
And even Washington Sundar’s batting form is not that impressive, especially in the white-ball format. The worrying signs became more evident in the ongoing three-match ODI series against South Africa, where Sundar bowled only three overs in the first match and four in the second.
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The pressure increased even more when Sundar failed with the bat as well and could only score 13 and 1 in the two ODIs against South Africa. With his batting not helping and bowling becoming weak, Kaif asked Gambhir and chief selector Ajit Agarkar what his role was in the team.
“What is Washington’s role, only the management can answer. If we talk about the skill as a spinner, he is not even half of Ashwin. Even in Tests and ODIs, under different captains, not one but all of them have given him full overs. When the game is tight, they go to Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav. There is no confidence that he can take wickets at any level,” Mohammad Kaif said in a video on his YouTube channel. Can take it, as with Kuldeep, he will have to work a lot on his bowling.
Mohammad Kaif questions Washington Sundar’s role after decline in bowling and failure in batting
Kaif said that Sundar’s wicket-taking ability has diminished and the team’s attempts to make him contribute more with the bat is only adding additional stress. He believes that the Indian off-spinner needs clarity about his main role and his primary strength should not be his batting but his bowling.
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The former Indian batsman further explained, “First of all, his wicket-taking ability is low, and now you want Sundar to bat and are putting more pressure on him. It seems as if he is neither a bowler nor a batsman. Make him do one thing and give him a clear role. He can play Axar Patel’s role in batting in the middle. That’s fine. But his main role is bowling. Batting is a bonus.”
Mohammad Kaif doubts about Washington Sundar’s future!
Kaif also mentioned that Sundar will have to work hard on his variations and overall skills if he wants to have a long future with the Indian cricket team. Notably, the Indian team is all set to face South Africa in the third and final ODI on December 6 in Vizag.
He concluded, “But if his bowling goes bad, which is obvious if he is not bowling overs, he will go further back in bowling. He has to work on his skills and variations as a bowler. If he wants to play for India for a long time, he has to improve his bowling.”
