Washington Sundar nearing full fitness; set to represent Lancashire - Reports
All-rounder Washington Sundar will play for Lancashire in England after attaining full fitness from a hand injury. The 22-year-old was last seen in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022, representing the SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH), where he struggled with persistent injury issues.
Available in only nine matches over the course of the recently concluded tournament, he had a lukewarm campaign with 101 runs and six wickets to his name.
Washington has been a victim of injuries since 2021. A blow to his finger in a warm-up contest ahead of the Test series against England rendered him unavailable for a large portion of 2021.
The injury forced him out of India's tour of England and the second leg of IPL 2021. He was also out of contention for a spot in the 2021 T20 World Cup squad.
According to a BCCI source, Washington Sundar is reportedly nearing full fitness and will play county cricket to gather match practice in red ball cricket. A source told PTI on the condition of anonymity:
"Washington is nearing full fitness and he needs a lot of game time, which he will get only in red ball cricket. He is going to play for Lancashire and this exposure will do him a world of good,"
The young all-rounder is currently undergoing rehabilitation with the likes of Deepak Chahar and franchise teammate T Natarajan.
Washington Sundar last played a Test for India in March 2021
Acting as the back-up spinner for Ravichandran Ashwin along with Jayant Yadav in the Indian Test side, Sundar has not been able to gather enough appearances. Making his debut on the injury-riddled tour of Australia, the youngster continued to feature for the national team at home against England.
However, he is yet to feature in a Test match since. The Tamil Nadu-born cricketer has remained unavailable for India's assignments in the second cycle of the World Test Championship (WTC) so far.
In terms of limited-overs cricket, the Tamil Nadu cricketer recently made a comeback in the home season to feature in the ODI series against West Indies.
The all-rounder will hope that the County stint ends in fruitful form, much like his national teammate Cheteshwar Pujara. The 33-year-old batter earned a recall back to the Test squad on the back of his exceptional performances for Sussex.