Dinesh Karthik Grills Gautam Gambhir, Questions Treatment Of India Star Washington Sundar

Team India's decision to replace B Sai Sudharsan at the No. 3 spot with Washington Sundar left many scratching their heads. Despite the fact that Sundar has produced some meaningful contributions with the bat for the Indian team in the whites, most of those displays have come in the lower order. Seeing Sundar take up the No. 3 role, arguably the most important in a batting unit, former India wicket-keeper batter Dinesh Karthik raised some important questions. India head coach Gautam Gambhir's admiration for Sundar isn't hidden from anyone. But his decision to promote the all-rounder this high in the batting unit was truly incomprehensible.

Sundar hit 29 and 31 over the two innings in the Kolkata Test, while playing at the No. 3 spot. Though the runs from Sundar's bat were among the highest for India in the match, Karthik feels the excessive batting practice Sundar is required to do for the role might have adverse effects on his bowling.

"Where is Washington Sundar, the Test player, being looked at? Is he a bowler who can bat? Now, if you are sending him at three, you are almost telling him that he needs to focus a lot more on batting," Karthik said in a video on Cricbuzz.

"The moment he starts spending those long hours batting in practice, you tend to reduce your practice for bowling because it is physically impossible to be good at both," Karthik added.

Karthik termed the situation a tricky one, as Sundar's no. 3 role only seems like a stop-gap solution. The cricketer from Tamil Nadu is primarily seen as a bowler who can prove to be handy with the bat. But under Gautam Gambhir, there seems to be a clear intent to redefine his role.

"So the message is very straightforward that we are looking at big runs from you. This could affect his bowling in the long run. It is a very tricky one," Karthik said.

With Gill likely to miss out on the second Test due to a neck injury, it would be interesting to see what role Gambhir assigns to Sundar in the batting unit.

Topics mentioned in this article

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