Washington Sundar injures shoulder ahead of Zimbabwe tour

India all-rounder Washington Sundar injured his left shoulder while competing in the Royal London Cup ahead of Team India's tour of Zimbabwe. India was scheduled to travel to the African nation with three specialist spinners, one of whom was Sundar.

It was reported that he had a heavy landing on his shoulder while his Lanchasire team was facing Worcestershire on Wednesday. The extent of the injury is yet to be revealed.

"Washington Sundar has left the field after receiving treatment on his left shoulder following a heavy landing. No breakthroughs with the ball just yet. 27-0 (8)," Lancashire Cricket announced on Twitter.

As a result of the injury, Sundar will likely miss India's campaign in Zimbabwe and the ICC tournament in Australia later this year.

The 22-year-old is not included in the Asia Cup squad. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said they had no plan to include him in the roster for the upcoming T20 World Cup as well.

“He is a great asset for India team. But at the moment, he needs to work on his fitness and wait for his chance. We have spoken to him about T20 World Cup. Ashwin will be preferred in Australia. Washington will be back up in case of injury in T20s for now,” the BCCI said.

With Sundar being out, India will have to rely on Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel for the Zimbabwe tour.

Career, injuries

Since his India debut in a match against Australia on December 13, 2017, Sundar has played in four Test matches, four ODIs, and 31 T20I matches for team India.

However, he has not played for India since IPL 2022. During the tournament, he also missed a few matches due to an injury to his bowling hand and COVID-19.

Last year, he was forced to skip the second half of IPL 2021 in the UAE after suffering a finger injury. While he eventually was able to return to domestic matches during the 50-overs of the Vijay Hazare Trophy, an exposure to COVID-19 forced him to miss out on India’s tour of South Africa in January this year.

Regardless of his injury-ravaged career, Sundar occasionally managed to display excellent performances. In February, He played all three ODIs against West Indies. He picked up four wickets at 18.75 while conceding 4.16 runs per over. He contributed 24 and 33 in his two outings with the bat.

Unfortunately, Sundar later suffered a left hamstring muscle strain. As a result, he was ruled out of the T20I series against West Indies and was replaced by Yadav.

He had a successful rehabilitation at National Cricket Academy (NCA), after which he joined the county side of Lancashire. Sundar has played two County Championship matches in which he scored 52 runs and scalped eight wickets.

He made his Lancashire debut in the English County League in July. He was important in Lancashire’s 184-run win against Kent County in Division 1, where he scalped three wickets in the final innings of the match to dismantle Kent’s batting lineup.