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Gautam Gambhir told to give ‘proper role clarity' to Washington Sundar: ‘He’ll keep searching who he is'
India head coach Gautam Gambhir has been advised to give proper role clarity to Washington Sundar.
Former India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin advised current head coach Gautam Gambhir to be clear with his plans and give proper role clarity to Washington Sundar ahead of the third and final ODI against South Africa in Vizag. The ongoing three-match series has seen Sundar far from being his best, underwhelming with both the bat and ball in hand. In the series opener, he batted ahead of KL Rahul at No.5, while in the next game, he came out at No.6.
In the first two ODIs, Sundar returned with scores of 13 and 1, while with the ball, he failed to take a single wicket. He bowled just seven overs combined in the two games, and this has led to questions being raised about Sundar's utility.
Even in the recent Test series against the Proteas, Sundar was first played at No.3 in the series opener in Kolkata, and he then moved lower down the order in the next game with Sai Sudharsan taking his spot at the all-important position.
“Once you have decided to play Washington Sundar, you've to treat him as a bowler who can bat. You've to bowl out his overs. Only if he keeps bowling, he'll have the mindset of a bowler who can bat. Otherwise, if he just bats and bowls a few overs, he'll keep searching for who he is," said Ashwin on his YouTube channel.
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"So don't leave him in the searching space. Instead, the team should arrive at giving him the proper role clarity,” he added.
‘No finishing punch’
Ashwin also alluded to the fact that India posted just 358 runs on the board despite being 284/4 after the 40-over mark. He suggested that perhaps management could consider bringing in a fast-bowling all-rounder, such as Nitish Kumar Reddy, in place of Sundar.
“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.
"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 allrounder play instead of a spinning allrounder?" he added.
The second-highest wicket-taker for India in international cricket also said that the current team will always have to score extra 30-40 runs with the bat, looking at the current bowling attack, which lacks experience.
"We've lost quite a few bowlers in Tests and white-ball cricket. India have lost many experienced bowlers. And in all this, the X-factor is Jasprit Bumrah. If tomorrow he is not a full-time member in the squad, India will have to score 30 to 40 extra runs in every match," said Ashwin.
