Former Indian batting coach Sanjay Bangar reckons all-rounder Washington Sundar is unlikely to get a place in India’s playing XI in the T20 World Cup clash against Namibia. Sundar had suffered a side strain injury in the opening ODI against New Zealand and thus was ruled out of the rest of the ODI as well as the T20I series.
Bangar reckons India’s gun fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah will return to the starting XI, with Mohammed Siraj making way. Siraj had returned with impressive figures of 3-29 in his quota of four overs against the USA whereas Bumrah had missed the opening clash as he wasn’t well.
“It’s great news that Washington Sundar is going to be joining the team because the Indian team were patient with him. They have high confidence in his abilities, and the very fact that they persisted with him despite not being available for the start of the tournament means that they want to play with a similar combination,” Sanjay Bangar said on Star Sports show Follow the Blues.
“If, say for instance, a spin-bowling all-rounder is not available, then Washington Sundar can certainly come in. But I don’t see him playing in Delhi. I certainly see Jasprit Bumrah making it to the playing XI, and the player to miss out would be the in-form Mohammed Siraj,” he added.
On the other hand, India was left reeling at 77-6 in the opening game against the USA and Bangar highlighted that Indian batters should not over-analyze their batting performance.
“I don’t think Indian batters should overanalyze what happened at Wankhede against USA because the kind of approach the Indian batting bats with nowadays in T20 cricket, it is obviously fraught with risk. On days like that, when maybe a couple of wickets fall, and you still want to keep going hard, you are going to lose wickets in clutches,” he replied.
The former Indian all-rounder said India should not doubt their aggressive approach as it has paid them rich dividends.
“So it is one learning. Maybe slow down a little bit, but do not have too much of a doubt in terms of your approach because that fearless approach has given you a lot of success. So keep backing your abilities and keep playing the way this Indian batting has approached T20 cricket over the last 18 months or so,” Bangar observed.
India will next take on Namibia at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi on Thursday.
