Washington Sundar: The teenager who broke records

On Sunday, fans witnessed a gut-wrenching Indian Premier League (IPL) final. Mumbai Indians defeated Rising Pune Supergiant to win the tenth edition of the glamorous league. This win also meant that Mumbai became the first team to win three IPLs. Skipper Rohit Sharma opted to bat first after winning the toss. Pune’s bowlers were highly impressive as Mumbai managed to score only 129 runs in 20 overs.

But credit goes to the Mumbai Indians bowlers for pulling off an exceptional victory that the fans will cherish for a long, long time. But a shining star in Pune’s camp has announced his arrival with a bang. Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin missed the tenth edition of the IPL due to an injury. As a replacement, the Pune franchise announced the name of a finger spinner Washington Sundar.

A 17-year old spinner playing at such a big stage like the IPL final? Yes, it happened. Washington Sundar became the youngest player to play in the IPL final. Previously, this honour was received by Ravindra Jadeja, when he took the field for Rajasthan Royals in the final match of the inaugural edition of the IPL.

Other records

Sundar was not utterly satisfied with this record as he went to break another record. In his 4 overs, he gave just 13 runs giving us the ideal example of how to restrict the run-flow. For a full 4 overs in an IPL final, he has conceded the least number of runs. His teammate Ravichandran Ashwin previously held the pole position in the list, spending just 16 runs in an IPL final.

Sundar also became the third youngest player to play in the IPL, after Sarfaraz Khan of Royal Challengers Bangalore and Pradeep Sangwan of Kolkata Knight Riders. He has picked up 11 wickets from 8 matches, with an economy rate of just over 6 runs per over.

His scintillating performance against Mumbai Indians in Qualifier 1 won him the Man of the Match award. Once again he broke a record, as he was the youngest player to win the Man of the Match award.