Sundar's role in whiteball cricket

[rollingstoned]

At this point not even he knows what he is supposed to be. He bowled 4 overs yday and 3 overs in the match before, lacks power hitting ability and stinks up the joint in the back end. What is the point of his place in the team if he is only going to bowl so much? In a bid to overcorrect and include more ARs the TM now has too many square pegs in round holes.

[vvvslaxman]

Gambhir has ruined him by using him randomly in the name of backing him.  Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson, Dube, Arshdeep all have been roated, shuffled around. Sundar doesn't even play at 5 for his state in List A. He is mainly a bowler. If you can't get 10 overs out of him just move on to batting all rounder. He should be just kept for Tests where he plays clutch knocks.

[Gollum]

Single-handedly drags every white ball team he is a part of down.

 

4 overs wicketless bowling, 60 SR in death overs, and a rubbish fielder/catcher. 

 

He can only be an option in tests. 

Edited December 4, 2025 by Gollum

[Gollum]

Better play a pure bowler or batsman in place of trash like Sundar, Jadeja. Pick Parag and Chakri in place of these 2 losers and we will be so much stronger. 

[rollingstoned]

4 minutes ago, Gollum said:

Better play a pure bowler or batsman in place of trash like Sundar, Jadeja. Pick Parag and Chakri in place of these 2 losers and we will be so much stronger. 

We have at least half a dozen superior options compared to Sundar if not more for that role. Whether it is proper batsmen or just batsmen who bowl 3 overs. There is no need to allow him to learn power hitting on the job. TIlak verma who was on the bench should play the last game instead of him, is a way superior fielder and can bowl this much for the same output.

[Gollum]

4 minutes ago, rollingstoned said:

We have at least half a dozen superior options compared to Sundar if not more for that role. Whether it is proper batsmen or just batsmen who bowl 3 overs. There is no need to allow him to learn power hitting on the job. TIlak verma who was on the bench should play the last game instead of him, is a way superior fielder and can bowl this much for the same output.

Our selectors and TM always mix formats. Gill walking back into the T20I team while Rinku gets left out is another example. 

[Nikhil_cric]

Long term replacement for Jadeja. Another decade of white ball mediocrity coming up because of this right handed Jadeja 

[express bowling]

Washington's power hitting ability has improved a lot. Infact he can hit big 6s off genuine quicks these days, especially in the mid wicket, square leg, mid-on regions.

 

But he is floated around too much and not given a specific role. This has hampered his effectiveness as a batter.

 

If you play him, give him a specific slot and specific role. Otherwise drop him. 

[putrevus]

He is not good even in tests. First test proved he is not fit to be batting in top five and second test proved he is not good enough to be even third spinner.

 

Only he fits in tests is once Jadeja leaves the test team. He is awful fielder too.

 

Jadeja is an upgrade over this guy even in white ball cricket and that should say everything about this guy.

 

But moronic GG is screwing Indian team by persisting with him in all formats.

 

 

[rkt.india]

38 minutes ago, putrevus said:

He is not good even in tests. First test proved he is not fit to be batting in top five and second test proved he is not good enough to be even third spinner.

 

Only he fits in tests is once Jadeja leaves the test team. He is awful fielder too.

 

Jadeja is an upgrade over this guy even in white ball cricket and that should say everything about this guy.

 

But moronic GG is screwing Indian team by persisting with him in all formats.

 

 

He was the top scorer from both sides in the first test. He is a must in test

 

[putrevus]

33 minutes ago, rkt.india said:

He was the top scorer from both sides in the first test. He is a must in test

 

We will give gold medal for losing the series spectacularly along with another disastrous selection of Jurel. 
 

 

[R!TTER]

Sundar needs to bat at least as good as Jadeja right now to warrant a place in test side, remember Jadeja at his peak was the second/third best test batter in the side and arguably the best spinner as well.

38 minutes ago, rkt.india said:

He was the top scorer from both sides in the first test. He is a must in test

 

What were his scores again?

 

No he is not, you're using the same arguments Sobers lite fans used after the first SA test in 2018 and we know how that played out 

 

A cameo on a bad pitch is just that - cameo and we don't need that BS for tests 

[tweaker]

Sundar is only selected to block Parag  ' s place as Gambhir don't want him in the squad 

[vvvslaxman]

People who question his place in Test side is out of their mind. Pretty much every single run he scored recently came at the most crucial time be it is the 144 partneship with GIll or flourished finish at Oval or  match saving 100 at Edgbaston with injured pant the only batsman left, or that 100 partnership with Reddy at the MCG  when everyone was gone.  WIth ball he was the one who even made that possible we could win the Lords test. He was selected by his fellow players as the MVP. Scoring a 186 at AHmedabad road, 100 at perth against 3rd change bowlers may look good. But those are impactless runs. He scores when it matters.

 

In the first test all INdia needed was one more innings like Sundar's to win the test.  That is how the low scoring it was. Scoring runs on easy paced batting track is one thing. He is not going anywhere.

[ungboysj]

5 hours ago, express bowling said:

Washington's power hitting ability has improved a lot. Infact he can hit big 6s off genuine quicks these days, especially in the mid wicket, square leg, mid-on regions.

 

But he is floated around too much and not given a specific role. This has hampered his effectiveness as a batter.

 

If you play him, give him a specific slot and specific role. Otherwise drop him. 

He doesn't have strike rotation ability seen in tests and odia

 

I know u support him but truth is he is neither here nor there as allrounder

 

Not good enough as a bowler or a batsman

[tapandrun]

To start with he is an off-spinner ...a skill-set not needed anymore in white-ball these days.

No proper white-ball team plays a specialist off-spinner and they are only selected if the opp. team has too many LH batters.

 

There is a reason why there are no specialist off-spinners these days because of no +ive match-ups , most (all) right handed batters can hit then for 6s/4s.

No off spinner in most of the games be able to bowl 4 overs in t20s and 10 overs in Odis. Hence these days off-spin is bowled by a proper batter when needed and its okay even when they dart in -- Maxwell,head, Makram, Saim Ayub, Aga Salman, Asalanka, Bracewell, Glen Phillips, moeen Ali, livingstone .. they play that role for their respective teams all are proper batters.

 

This shows selecting an off-spinner is just a waste of spot these days in white-ball.

This was about off-spin as skill in the white-ball now about Sundar ::

 

Sundar is not a fast mover in the field , not the best fielder may be a safe fielder but not that fast to patrol the boundries.

 

He lacks power game to play in white-ball and to play 5/6/7 , his t20i sr is 135 that is playing vs mostly b level opp. his ipl sr is 127.

PPl question jadeja's spot in white-ball who is a way better fielder, has sr of 127 most of his game are vs the full strength sides and a LA spinner , next best thing if a team does not have wrist/mystery spinners.

 

if  jadeja is not fit for white-ball whats the argument in support of having Sundar. Ashwin way better off-spinner with lot of ability and ability to bowl the ball that leaves rh batter he was not able to make a spot in Ind side how Sundar is any good than Ashwin.

 

He can not access off-side that well. 

He has limited range and power, he just have 2 six-hitting shots sweep vs spin and hook/pull vs pace.

 

Now his batting technique :: His weight remain on back foot but to generate power from back-foot he does not have the strong base and v.fast bat swing and big windups.

take Tim Siefert for example his weight remain on back-foot but he has v.fast bat swing and has strong core.

 

Sundar batting worked in Aus because of that batter can remain on backfoot in Aus due to extra bounce and even if its was extra bounce the 6s he got was vs ~135 kmph bowler who kept bowling into his strong zone. He was able to hook the ball 

 

other teams are playing spinners with x-factor (mystery/wrist) in white-ball, why ind needs to play to off-spin with no ability of dusra....??

Edited December 4, 2025 by tapandrun

[Forever Indian]

1 hour ago, R!TTER said:

Sundar needs to bat at least as good as Jadeja right now to warrant a place in test side, remember Jadeja at his peak was the second/third best test batter in the side and arguably the best spinner as well.

What were his scores again?

 

No he is not, you're using the same arguments Sobers lite fans used after the first SA test in 2018 and we know how that played out 

 

A cameo on a bad pitch is just that - cameo and we don't need that BS for tests 

 

Last 3 test series against SENA this is how Sundar has fared:

 

• NZ home: Best spinner taking 16 wickets @14.12 average in just two tests, ahead of Jadeja and Ashwin - https://www.espncricinfo.com/records/series/bowling-most-wickets-career/new-zealand-in-india-test-series-2024-25-16435
•  
• Eng Away: Batting average of 47.33 and good allround performance
•  
• SA home: Top run scorer from India; was hardly given a bowl

 

We are also trying to mix formats similar to what selectors/TM are doing. He is doing his job in tests, but if the TM do not use him well then it may suffer as well. Sundar has the best technique to handle fast bowlers in and against SENA countries.

• Tests - He should be played as a Batting allrounder at no.6
• ODIs and T20Is - If he is played he should be played as Bowling allrounder, bowling atleast 7-8 overs regularly and bat at no.7 or 8.

 

 

 

[bowl_out]

His batting is either swing hard to hit out of the park or deadbat all day. 

 

Tests - He is a big asset

T20 - He is valuable with 4 economical overs + can hit a few in the death overs

ODIs - Not his format. He sucks and shouldn't even be close to the ODI squad.

 

 

[vvvslaxman]

3 minutes ago, bowl_out said:

His batting is either swing hard to hit out of the park or deadbat all day. 

 

Tests - He is a big asset

T20 - He is valuable with 4 economical overs + can hit a few in the death overs

ODIs - Not his format. He sucks and shouldn't even be close to the ODI squad.

 

 

Gambir is trying to have the same unit for all formats. Rana Sundar Gill .it is actually harming them more than helping them.  I have zero problem backing Ruturaj in ODI. He has proved it in the domestic at List A level with phenomenal consistency.   Same way he should look at free flowing batsmen like Prabhsimran,  Suryavanshi in T20 not restricted batsman like Gill. He managed to phase out samson after telling him he will give 20 match run. 

[Gollum]

Too much favoritism going on when it comes to selection.