Former Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has warned that if the Indian team management does not give Washington Sundar “proper” position definition, the bowling all-rounder may be left “searching for who he is.”
Ashwin emphasized that Washington needs to be given a full quota of overs and handled like a front-line bowling all-rounder in order to gain confidence with the bat. In the first two ODIs against South Africa, the 26-year-old has bowled just seven overs and has not yet claimed a wicket.
“Once you have decided to play Washington Sundar, you have to treat him as a bowler who can bat. You have to bowl out his overs,” said Ashwin on his YouTube channel.
“Only if he keeps bowling, he will have the mindset of a bowler who can bat. Otherwise, if he just bats and bowls a few overs, he will keep searching for who he is. So don’t leave him in the searching space. Instead, the team should arrive at giving him the proper role clarity,” he added.
South Africa won by four wickets to tie the three-match series after India failed to defend 358 in the second ODI. After scoring 348 in the first ODI, they managed to survive.
Ashwin questioned whether a like-for-like replacement was missed and thought that the hosts lacked a finishing option without Hardik Pandya.
“India also didn’t finish well with the bat in both ODIs. Especially when you don’t have a finisher like Hardik Pandya, why didn’t a similarly powerful Nitish Kumar Reddy play?” said Ashwin.
Instead of Washington, he recommended Nitish Kumar Reddy be added to the starting lineup.
“I am not sure if they are looking at Rishabh Pant as a finisher or not. India are not able to provide that finishing punch. So should an extra fast-bowling all-rounder play instead of a spinning all-rounder?” he added.
