Overview:
Washington Sundar becomes the third Indian player to be hit by injury this home season. Earlier, Rishabh Pant was ruled out.
India have handed a first ODI call-up to Delhi batter Ayush Badoni after Washington Sundar was ruled out of the remainder of the New Zealand ODI series due to injury.
During the first ODI in Vadodara, Washington Sundar was troubled by discomfort in his left lower rib region while delivering his spell. Further medical scans have been planned, with the BCCI medical staff set to seek expert assessment before confirming the extent of the injury.
Sundar’s outing with the ball ended after five overs for 27, following which he walked off during the New Zealand innings. Despite the setback, he batted at No. 8 and stayed not out on seven, adding a crucial 27-run stand with KL Rahul (29*) to guide India to a four-wicket win. The chase of 301 runs was completed in 49 overs.
Following Sundar’s unavailability for the rest of the series, the selection panel has brought in Ayush Badoni as a replacement. The uncapped batter will travel to Rajkot to join the squad for the second ODI.
Washington Sundar becomes the third Indian player to be hit by injury this home season. Earlier, Rishabh Pant was ruled out of the ODI leg with a side strain, while Tilak Varma is set to miss the opening three T20Is following surgery for a groin issue.
Rahul said he was not fully aware of how serious Washington Sundar’s injury was while they were batting together. “I knew he had a bit of discomfort from the first innings, but I didn’t realise he was unable to run,” he explained.
“He was timing the ball well. When he joined me, we were already going at close to a run a ball, so there was no need to force the pace. There was no added pressure on him, and he focused on rotating the strike and playing his role.”
Revised India Squad for 2nd, 3rd ODIs
Shubman Gill (C),Shreyas Iyer (VC), Ravindra Jadeja, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Kuldeep Yadav, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Arshdeep Singh, KL Rahul (WK), Mohd Siraj, Harshit Rana, Prasidh Krishna, Ayush Badoni.