India won the first ODI in Vadodara, but the aftermath had slight concerns around Washington Sundar’s fitness and how the situation was handled by the team management. Just a day after Rishabh Pant was ruled out of the series with a side strain, India now find themselves without Sundar as well and former India batter Mohammed Kaif believes this could have been avoided.
Sundar’s discomfort was evident long before the chase began. He left the field after completing only five overs in New Zealand’s innings, having gone for 27 runs, with Nitish Kumar Reddy coming on as the substitute fielder. The all-rounder did not return to the field at all, and we knew that the injury was certainly there. Yet when India’s chase got tough late in the innings, Sundar was sent out to bat at No. 8.
Kaif questions Team India
Anyone watching closely could see he was in trouble. He struggled to turn singles into twos, grimaced while running, and was clearly operating at half capacity. That is what left Kaif baffled. Kaif pointed out that this was not a desperate situation. India were scoring at roughly a run a ball. The match was under control. Yet the management still chose to expose an already injured player.
“If he is injured and you need runs at a run-a-ball, you should first try someone else. When a player is injured and you send him in under pressure, the injury can worsen. He couldn’t run doubles even though the ball was going to deep point or square leg, and he was only managing singles. Although the required run rate was around a run-a-ball and the match was under control, I felt that sending an injured player was risky. What might have been a one-week or ten-day injury could stretch to 20, 25, or even 30 days,” Kaif said while speaking on his YouTube channel.
The Shubman Gill example
Kaif’s take was interesting, as he also drew a parallel between Sundar’s injury and Shubman Gill’s neck injury, which he picked up in the first Test between India and South Africa in Kolkata. In a low-scoring affair, India were beaten by the Proteas. However, Gill was non-existent as a batter, as he left the field only after playing two balls in the first innings. A stiffness in his neck didn’t allow Gill to play and India didn’t push him as well even when they lost the game by getting all-out in the second innings.
“You will remember when Shubman Gill was injured, he did not come out to bat in that Test match, the Kolkata Test. It was a high-scoring game and people thought that even 20 or 30 runs from him could help India win, but he still did not bat. That was done to give full protection to the player so the injury would not aggravate. But the same approach was not applied with Sundar. That is why I feel it was a wrong call.”
While Gill’s case was a bit different, as he was unable to move his neck, Sundar might have been asked to bat just to support KL Rahul at the other end. However, it might have aggravated his injury further and was a huge risk. This is exactly what we saw with Rishabh Pant as well when he batted with a fractured toe in the 4th Test against England in Manchester back in July 2025.
Cricket
RCB to have 2 home grounds in IPL 2026, but neither will be M Chinnaswamy Stadium
