Washington Sundar

Named after PD Washington as a mark of thanksgiving to his mentor by his father, Washington Sundar has risen the ranks from the age-group level to the U19 level and from Tamil Nadu to Rising Pune Supergiant (RPS).

At the age of 18 years and 80 days, he became the youngest player to debut for India in T20Is when he took the field against Sri Lanka in 2017. 

Sundar went from being a batsman as a youngster to making his name as an off-spinner. He was selected for the India U19 World Cup squad in 2016. After his man-of-the-series performance in the Nidahas Trophy in 2018, he became a mainstay in the national T20 team.

His IPL career has been full of ups and downs till now. Having been unsold in 2017, he joined the now-defunct Rising Pune Supergiant (2017) as a replacement for the injured Ravichandran Ashwin. 'Washy' became the talk of the town when he was declared man of the match having taken 3 wickets for 16 runs.

In January 2018, he was bought by the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) for INR 3.2 crores and has been retained by the franchises ever since. The dynamic all-rounder from Chennai fulfilled his promise and featured in every match for RCB, scoring important runs and picking up wickets at a crucial time. He went to Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL 2022 mega auction for INR 8.75 crore. However, a change in franchise altered his fortunes too. After a disappointing season in 2022, he got ruled out of IPL 2023 midway through the tournament due to an injury.

During India's 2020-21 tour of Australia, Sundar was picked as a net bowler but due to a number of injuries in the squad, he was handed his maiden Test cap, and he delivered in fantastic style. 

The debutant took three wickets in the first innings, including the important one of Steve Smith, a fluent 62 when India was in the dumps in the first innings, stitching a series-defining partnership with Shardul Thakur at the other end. Later in the 2nd innings, he played a vital game-changing knock of 22 during his supporting act with Rishabh Pant, on the iconic final day heist at Gabba. His hook shot against the then world number 1 bowler, Pat Cummins, is etched in the memory of fanatics.

The Chennai prodigy continued his good work with the bat in the subsequent Test series against England and was unfortunate to miss out on his maiden Test ton. In the 4th Test at Ahmedabad, he was left stranded on 96* as India was bundled out in the 1st innings. Then, he went on to play County Cricket in England for Lancashire, taking a five-wicket haul in his debut outing versus Northamptonshire.

Sundar smashed his maiden T20I fifty against New Zealand in January 2023 before playing in the IPL that year, where another injury setback hit him, derailing him off the tracks. 

He made his international cricket comeback in the T20I series against Ireland and then went on to represent his country in the men’s cricket event of the Asian Games 2023, bringing home the gold along with the team.

He donned the Indian jersey in the Asia Cup 2023 final, coming into the squad as Axar Patel’s replacement.

Recently, in the match versus Afghanistan at Bengaluru, he claimed his career-best T20I figures of 3-18.

The all-rounder has already achieved so much in a brief career. That being said, his best years are ahead of him but only if he is freed from the curse of injuries.

Sundar, who was part of Sunrisers Hyderabad, did not get too much game time in IPL 2024 and because of that he was not even considered for the T20 World Cup 2024 reserves.

(As of May 2024)