- By Namrata Vijay
- Fri, 05 Dec 2025 01:39 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
IND vs SA 2nd ODI: R Ashwin has requested the Indian team management to play Washington Sundar purely as a bowler who can also bat and not as a batter. Ashwin revealed that Sundar, who was often considered his successor, will always try to search for who he is till he is given clarity on his role.
Sundar is currently batting at the no.5 position in the ongoing ODI series against South Africa. He had scored 19 runs off 13 balls in the series opener. And then in the second match, he batted at the No.6 position and scored just one run. He had bowled in just seven overs in both these matches and had gone wicketless.
It shows that the team management is looking at this youngster as a middle-order batter who can also bowl as a sixth bowler.
“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. So don’t leave him in the searching space. Instead, the team should arrive at giving him the proper role clarity," Ashwin was quoted as saying on his YouTube channel.
At the same time, Ashwin also slammed the team management's decision of not picking Nitish Kumar instead of Sundar. Reddy is a like-for-like replacement for Hardik Pandya, who gave this series a miss owing to an injury, and can make sure that the hosts don't lack any finisher.
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? I am not sure if they are looking at Rishabh Pant as a finisher or not. India is not able to provide that finishing punch. So should an extra fast-bowling all-rounder play instead of a spinning all-rounder?" he said.
The ongoing three-match series is leveled at 1-1, and the third and the last ODI will be held in Vizag on Saturday.