Former India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has urged the Indian team management to provide Washington Sundar with “proper” role clarity, warning that the bowling all-rounder could otherwise be left “searching for who he is.”Ashwin stressed that Washington must be treated as a frontline bowling all-rounder and given a full quota of overs to build confidence with the bat as well. The 26-year-old has bowled only seven overs across the first two ODIs against South Africa and is yet to take a wicket.
“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,” said Ashwin on his YouTube channel.
“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. So don’t leave him in the searching space. Instead, the team should arrive at giving him the proper role clarity,” he added.
India failed to defend 358 in the second ODI as South Africa levelled the three-match series with a four-wicket win. They had scrapped through in the opening ODI after scoring 348.
Ashwin felt the hosts lacked a finishing option in the absence of Hardik Pandya and questioned whether a like-for-like replacement was overlooked.
“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.
He suggested the inclusion of Nitish Kumar Reddy in the playing XI instead of Washington.
“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 allrounder?” he added.