Former India batter Mohammed Kaif has slammed the Indian team management for exposing an injured Washington Sundar during the 301-run chase against New Zealand in the first ODI in Vadodara on Sunday.
Suffering from a side strain, Sundar did not bowl his full quota of overs during the first innings. The 26-year-old Sundar had hobbled off mid-way through New Zealand’s innings after bowling five overs for 27 runs. And while he did not come back to the field, he was out in the middle in India’s innings to see them through.
While KL Rahul saw his team through in the chase with an over to spare with his 29-run cameo, he would later admit that he wasn’t aware that Sundar could not run from the other end. Kaif questioned the Gautam Gambhir-led management for sending out Sundar out to bat in the situation.
“You will remember when Shubman Gill was injured, he did not come out to bat in that Test match, the Kolkata Test. It was 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 on his YouTube channel.
The Tamil Nadu all-rounder is part of the 15-member squad for the forthcoming T20 World Cup and has now been ruled out of the remainder of the ODI series. He is also doubtful to start in the five-match T20I series against the Kiwis.
“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 added.
