'Don't leave him in the searching space' - R Ashwin urges India to stop experimenting with Washington Sundar

Former Indian cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin has advised the team management to utiilise Washington Sundar in a more optimally. Sundar has only bowled seven overs across the first two ODIs of the ongoing series against South Africa.

Ashwin, from the same state as Sundar, urged the management to make the latter bowl as much as possible during matches. The former spinner said that he is afraid that Sundar might not gain enough confidence with the bat if not used enough with the ball.  

"Once you have decided to play Washington Sundar, you have 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 who he is. So, don't leave him in the searching space. Instead, the team should arrive at providing him with proper role clarity," stated Ashwin in a video on his YouTube channel.

Ashwin also opined that Nitish Kumar Reddy should have featured in the XI as he is the perfect like-for-like replacement for the injured Hardik Pandya.

"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 are not able to provide that finishing punch. So, should an extra fast-bowling all-rounder play instead of a spin-bowling all-rounder?," he added.

Not only in the ODIs, Sundar's batting position was ALSO shuffled in the recently-concluded Test series. There have been occasions where he has batted as high as No. 3, while he has come to bat as low as No. 8 on other instances.

Having lost the second ODI in Raipur, India will have to fight it out in Visakhapatnam to claim the series. The series-deciding clash is scheduled to be played at the ACA-VDCA Stadium on Saturday, December 6.