VADODARA: In a major blow to India — with the T20 World Cup at home less than a month away — off-spinning allrounder Washington Sundar was on Monday ruled out of the remaining two matches of the ongoing ODI series against New Zealand after sustaining a rib injury during the first game on Sunday.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!Sundar has been replaced in the squad by Delhi batter Ayush Badoni, who has received his maiden India call-up.“Sundar reported an acute onset of discomfort in his left lower rib area while bowling during the first ODI. He will undergo further scans, following which the BCCI medical team will seek expert opinion. Washington has been ruled out of the remaining two matches of the ODI series,” the BCCI stated in a release.
Badoni, who was part of Delhi’s squad for the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy knockouts, will join the Indian team ahead of the second ODI in Rajkot on Jan 14. The 26-year-old has been a consistent performer in domestic cricket and a regular face for India ‘A’ and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG). He was also part of the three-match one-day series against South Africa ‘A’ and Australia ‘A’ in Rajkot and Kanpur in Sept–Oct last year.In 27 List A matches, Badoni, who generally bats at No. 5 or 6, has scored 693 runs at an average of over 36. He also offers handy off-spin, having picked up 18 wickets at 29.72 and an economy rate of 4.54.
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“A key reason why Badoni has been brought in is his offspin, which could be useful given New Zealand have three left-handers — Devon Conway, Henry Nicholls and Michael Bracewell — in their batting line-up,” a source close to the developments said.Hampered by the injury, Sundar bowled just five overs for 27 runs during New Zealand’s innings and did not return to the field thereafter. He later came out to bat at No. 8 after Harshit Rana was promoted ahead of him. The left-hander was visibly struggling between the wickets but chipped in with an unbeaten seven, adding an unbroken 27-run stand with KL Rahul for the seventh wicket to take India home in a tense chase.The reliable but injury-prone allrounder is likely to miss the five-match T20I series against the Kiwis as well, which begins on Jan 21 in Nagpur, and will be racing against time to recover for the T20 World Cup next month, for which he has been named in India’s squad.
