Dinesh Karthik feels promotion to no.3 might affect Washington Sundar’s bowling in Test cricket

Washington Sundar was the new candidate in the ongoing musical chairs for the no. 3 spot in the Indian Test team. After Karun Nair and Sai Sudharsan did the duties in the England series and against the West Indies recently, Sundar was the new no. 3 as India went down to South Africa in the first Test in Kolkata.

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In a bid to play four spinners and plenty of all-rounders, Gautam Gambhir and co. decided to sacrifice Sai Sudharsan’s spot in the XI and promoted Sundar to the no. 3 spot. Sundar did well, scoring 29 in 82 balls in the first innings and top-scoring with 31 in 92 balls in the second innings, when India folded for 93 in chase of 124 runs.

Former India wicket-keeper Dinesh Karthik, however, cautioned against the decision to put Sundar at No. 3 as a long-term move.

Karthik said that with Sundar compelled to concentrate more on his batting, his bowling burden will naturally decrease, even during practice sessions.

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

“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 on Cricbuzz.

Sundar has admirable numbers in FC cricket, scoring 2090 runs in 45 games at an average of 34.26, with three centuries and 11 fifties and a highest score of 159. He also has 98 wickets in FC cricket.

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“He deserves a run”—Shaun Pollock in favor of Washington Sundar getting a lengthy run at the no. 3 spot.

South Africa pace legend Shaun Pollock also lauded Sundar’s temperament in his fresh role in the top order. Sundar has done well in his short career, scoring 821 runs with one century and five fifties, with an average of 43.21, and taking 35 wickets with a best bowling of 7/59 in 16 tests.

“Application is the right word. I think he will still work out his game plan for how he wants to pace his innings at three and when he wants to be positive or aggressive. But he deserves a run. So, you keep him in that position, give him another four or five test matches, and see how he goes. If things don’t pan out well, then you can maybe look to make a change. I always felt that he was underutilized. They probably could have had a look at him a bit more. But as far as the batting goes, there is nothing wrong with his application. He will work out more as he goes along,” remarked Pollock.

It remains to be seen whether Sundar will hold onto his no. 3 spot when India takes on South Africa in the second Test in Guwahati from November 22.

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