Follow UsThink of yourself as a 16-year-old. You have already broken onto the scene, and people around you are raving about you. If you do well, you can even play in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
But then there’s a catch. You still are in the shadow of one of India’s greatest off-spinners, Ravichandran Ashwin.
That’s how 16-year-old Washington Sundar started his cricketing career.
Over the next nine years, he’s been fighting that demon, which has often hampered several budding talents’ careers - the comparison monster, which didn’t help Washington set up his own legacy.
Yes, in some ways, Washington is similar to Ashwin, but in most ways, they are like two different types of bears—polar and grizzly. While Ashwin has been the polar bear in the past, the younger Tamil Nadu talent has moulded himself like a grizzly for the Indian Test side.
In cricketing terms, one has turned himself into an off-spinner who can bat, and the other a batter who bowls the tough off-spin overs.
Despite his skill set, Washington has just played 12 Tests.
Seven of which have come away from home, in Australia and England, where conditions have rarely favoured the off-spinner. But that hasn’t deterred the 25-year-old, who has picked up 14 wickets in these tough conditions, three more than the experienced Ravindra Jadeja across the last seven games.
At Lord's, where the rest of the Indian bowling unit was struggling and suffering, it was Washington's off-spin, a dying art, which saved India from extreme blushes. The 25-year-old snapped four wickets and conceded only 22 runs, including getting England's best batter, Joe Root, out.
While he's an off-spinner, here's why he's quite different from the likes of Ashwin and Lyon, as he gets the ball to practically drift away from the right-hander (ask Harry Brook) more often than spin it into them. It is an art that he has been consistently delivering for a decade in white-ball cricket, but has now transcended into the longest format.
There was even a point during the Manchester Test when, after 68 overs of Indian bowling, the Indian skipper hadn't introduced Washington into the attack, leading to a huge outcry on social media.
This was despite India fielding a bowling attack of Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Anshul Kamboj, and Jadeja.
Once known as just a defensive option in red-ball cricket, Washington was turning quick corners in international cricket, becoming one of India's offensive options, as he scalped two wickets, removing a well-set Ollie Pope (71) and a counter-attacking Harry Brook (3). That pegged England back, albeit only for a brief period.
But in that passage of play, it was clear as daylight that Washington Sundar, the bowler, was no longer a defensive option— but now an integral part of India’s bowling arsenal.
****
"Boring."
That's the first word my colleague uttered when he saw Washington Sundar bat. And if you're an opposition bowler, you'd feel the same way too.
Because, as a batter, Washington is exactly that: tedious, monotonous, and boring.
However, what he's been for India in his Test career has been anything but boring; he's been a stoic rock when he's on a roll.
When you think about some of the greatest match-winners with the bat over the last four years, Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, and Shubman Gill likely come to mind, and rightly so. But beyond those big names, there's Washington, who doesn’t often make the headlines.
Among active Indian cricketers, he boasts the sixth-best average (36.64) in England and Australia. More crucially, Washington has the third-best balls/dismissal ratio (95.3) among active Indian cricketers, showcasing how he's easily filled one of India's biggest voids: contributions with the lower order.
For long, Washington was just viewed as a bowling all-rounder, but such has been his calibre with the bat, it is time for recalibration.
He’s the perfect foil between the attacking Rishabh Pant and India’s wagging tale.
And Washington is doing that job perfectly, absorbing the pressure, playing the fourth-most balls per innings for an Indian batter in England and Australia (since 2019).
Even with these incredible numbers, when Gill walked back on day five of the Manchester Test, several Indian fans would have assumed the game was over.
But that’s where Washington, the batter, brings out the best in him.
96* off 174 against England in Ahmedabad back in 2021.
62 off 144 against Australia in Brisbane back in 2021.
42 off 103 against England in Birmingham in 2025.
29 off 94 against Australia in Perth in 2024.
It is no coincidence that Washington has made a crucial contribution in all of India’s big wins in Australia and England. In the same vein, it is no surprise that he’s scored 673 runs at an average of 44.86 in Tests, with five fifty-plus scores.
For the longest time, Washington lived in the shadow, or under the pressure, of filling an all-time great's shoes. Now that he doesn't have to, under Gautam Gambhir, he's turning out to be the most confident version of himself.
So, the next time Washington says something like, "Definitely India winning tomorrow, probably in the first session," you'd better stop whatever you're doing and pay attention. He knows what he's talking about.