India news: Washington Sundar ruled out of T20I series against Windies

James Richardson
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Washington Sundar

Injury has ruled Washington Sundar out of India’s three-match T20I series against West Indies, which begins in Kolkata on Wednesday.

The spin-bowling allrounder suffered a hamstring strain while fielding during the third ODI in Ahmedabad on Friday and, according to a BCCI statement, has not recovered.

Left-arm wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav makes his return to the T20I squad as Sundar’s replacement in India’s squad.

Sundar has suffered an unfortunate string of illnesses and injuries that have stunted his international career.

In 2021, Sundar was forced to miss the second half of IPL in the UAE after suffering a finger injury.

He then returned to domestic action during the List A Vijay Hazare Trophy, helping Tamil Nadu reach the final. However, a bout of COVID-19 him waiting for his international comeback, ruling him out of the ODI leg of India’s tour of South Africa for which he had been selected.

Sundar finally returned to India action during the ODI series against West Indies, playing all three games and showing promise with both ball and bat.

During the 3-0 whitewash, he picked up four wickets at 18.75, while conceding just 4.16 runs per over.

Sundar chipped in with scores of 24 and 33 in his two outings with the bat.

Just when he seemed to be back in the thick of things, however, injury has once again struck a cruel blow against Sundar.

As a specialist bowler, Kuldeep isn’t a like-for-like replacement for allrounder Sundar. However, the batting ability of seamers Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar and Harshal Patel, however, should still allow India to pick an XI without compromising on their batting depth.

The T20I series between India and the West Indies gets underway at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Wednesday, 16 February 2022.

India squad for T20I series: Rohit Sharma (capt), Ishan Kishan, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, Ravi Bishnoi, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammed Siraj, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Avesh Khan, Harshal Patel, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Deepak Hooda, Kuldeep Yadav.