Washington Sundar has been dropped from the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) playing XI for their match against the Punjab Kings (PBKS) on Friday. The young all-rounder has had a disappointing IPL 2021 season and was replaced with another all-rounder, Shahbaz Ahmed.
The Chennai-born cricketer made his name at RCB and eventually broke into Team India's T20 squad. His consistent performances saw him displace Ravichandran Ashwin as the Men In Blue's off-spinner, with his batting coming as a bonus.
The 21-year-old took another huge leap in his career by impressing with the bat for Team India in Test cricket. Be it on bouncy pitches Down Under or on rank turners in India, Washington Sundar showed brilliant application and bailed his team out of trouble on multiple occasions.
T20 is a different ball game and Washington Sundar has struggled to adapt to the format this season. He has just three wickets and 31 runs, at an appalling strike rate of 65.95, to show for his efforts from six matches. RCB simply had no choice but to replace the all-rounder as he had become a weak link.
Twitter reacts to Washington Sundar's exclusion from RCB's playing XI
Fans on Twitter had mixed reactions to Washington Sundar's absence from RCB's playing XI. Some trolled the all-rounder for his slow batting and ineffective bowling, while others believed he deserved another chance and slammed RCB skipper Virat Kohli for the decision.
Here is what they had to say:
The Punjab Kings, on the other hand, made three changes to their line-up. With Mayank Agarwal injured, the pressure on skipper KL Rahul to score runs has only increased. He needs the likes of Chris Gayle and Nicholas Pooran to also contribute.
Rahul averages about 75 with the bat against RCB and will certainly want to continue his dominance. It will be interesting to see how things pan out as PBKS are desperately in need of a win.
