Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: Washington Sundar is scheduled to undergo a fitness test at the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru on Feb 4, three days ahead of the start of India’s T20 World Cup campaign on Feb 7. The spin-bowling allrounder’s availability for the tournament is currently in doubt as his recovery from a side strain is taking a lot longer than what was expected. Wasington sustained the in the first ODI against New Zealand on Jan 11.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!TOI understands that the team management and the selectors are willing to wait for an official medical update on Washington before initiating backup plans. Teams are allowed to make changes till Jan 30 but injury replacements can be made even during the tournament if approved by the tournament’s technical committee. The Indian team is slated to assemble in Mumbai for its first training session Feb 3 before playing a warm-up match against South Africa on Feb 4.
Washington’s fitness test could provide an idea about the rate of his recovery. While the Indian cricket board (BCCI) never specified the nature of the injury, sources said that he has suffered a muscle tear near the ribs at the back.On Wednesday, Tilak Varma and Riyan Parag played a simulation match at the CoE while Washington didn’t perfor m any intense drills. “Washington’s injury needs to heal naturally before he gets back to the return-to-play process,” a BCCI source said. Tilak is expected to join the team before the warm-up game.The team wears a settled look even without vice-captain Axar Patel taking the field in the ongoing T20I series against New Zealand. While Parag is seen as a like-for-like replacement for Washington, the team management has struck a good balance even without a spin-bowling allrounder. “If Washington can be fit for the later stages of the WC, the team may wait for him,” the source said.
