Washington Sundar joins Lancashire team, will play first-class cricket

India’s young all-rounder Washington Sundar will return to competitive cricket in July through first-class matches for Lancashire. The Lancashire Cricket Club on Wednesday (June 22) announced the signing of the youngster for some first-class matches and the Royal London One-Day, and Washington Sundar is one of them.

Once his UK visa is approved, Sundar will fly to England to represent the county side. Sundar will be the fifth Indian player to play for Lancashire. Farooq Engineer, the first Indian to play for Lancashire, made his debut for the team in 1968.

After him Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman, Dinesh Mongia and Murali Karthik also played for Lancashire. Shreyas Iyer was supposed to play for him in 2021, but a shoulder injury prevented him from joining Lancashire. He was also forced to miss the first half of IPL 2021.

“I am extremely excited to be playing county cricket for the first time with Lancashire Cricket. It will be a wonderful experience for me to play in English conditions and I can’t wait to play at Emirates Old Trafford. I would like to thank both Lancashire Cricket and BCCI for allowing this opportunity and I look forward to joining the team next month,” Sundar told the club.

Sundar has been out of the team for more than a month now. He has been in and out of the national team due to injuries since his debut and could not make it to the national team for the South Africa and Ireland series as he is recovering from an injury. He last represented Team India against West Indies in February this year.

Washington Sundar will no longer be a part of the England and West Indies tours. Lancashire are scheduled to play 3 first-class matches in July. The Royal London One-Day Cup is scheduled to be played from 2 August to 17 September. In Lancashire, he will get a chance to play with team David and Liam Livingstone. Indian fans will also hope that Sundar gives his best and gets back in form. Cheteshwar Pujara did something similar a few months back. After not getting a place in the team, he scored heavily in county cricket and eventually returned to the team.