Washington Sundar sets TNPL on fire; IPL 2018 contract with CSK on the cards?

Washington Sundar took Indian Premier League by storm when he scalped the wickets of Rohit Sharma, Kieron Pollard and Ambati Rayudu to help his team, Rising Pune Supergiant, beat Mumbai Indians in the Qualifier 1 earlier this year.

The 17-year-old Tamil Nadu all-rounder, who also became the youngest player to feature in an IPL final, won a lot of praise from his captain, Steve Smith, for his efforts with the ball, especially in the powerplay overs.

Sundar just picked up eight wickets in his maiden IPL campaign, but he conceded only at 6.16, which is a magical figure in Twenty20s, considering he did most of his bowling inside the powerplay.

Record-breaking TNPL season

Cut to August 2017, Sundar is breaking records at will in the second season of Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL), thereby winning praise from the likes of Brett Lee, who has labelled him " a player for the future."

The teenager, who is featuring for defending champions Tuti Patriots, scored the edition's first century (107 off 61 balls) in his team's fourth straight win of the tournament on August 1.

Tuti have sealed a spot in the Playoffs with six wins from as many games, thanks to Sundar's four Man of the Match-winning performances. The all-rounder is on top of the batting chart, having scored 361 runs from six matches at 90.25 with a ton and two fifties so far.

With the ball, he is the the joint highest wicket-taker at the moment with 11 wickets at 13.18.

Relishing new role

For someone, who has not followed Sundar's rise, his batting exploits should come as a surprise. The teenager started as a batsman, but later focussed on his off-spin at the U19 level. He was even picked for Supergiant primarily as off-spinner R Ashwin's replacement.

Even in the inaugural season of TNPL, Sundar was recognised for his discipline with the ball and ability to pick up wickets at crucial stages, despite scoring 140 runs from nine matches at the middle-order.

However, in the ongoing season, Sundar has taken his batting to a whole new level, smashing at a strike rate of 150.41. It seems the teenager is relishing the opener role, which was handed to him due to Abhinav Mukund's absence from the Tuti team.

The left-handed batsman signalled his intent right from the start of the tournament as he smashed a 48-ball 69 to help his team beat Dindigul Dragons in the tournament opener last month in Chennai. And he has not looked back ever since.

CSK stint beckons Sundar

Sundar is definitely going to be one of the key targets for quite a few IPL teams during the player-auction ahead of the 2018 edition. Among them, Chennai Super Kings (CSK), who are ready to return for 2018 edition of the cash-rich tournament after serving their two year suspension, are likely to lead the race for the exciting teenager.

The Chennai-based franchise have always shown interest in getting highly-rated all-rounders and the tactic has worked wonders for them. In Sundar, CSK will not just have another local player, but a quality all-rounder, who has proved his mettle at some of the biggest stages of T20 cricket.

Moreover, the teenager has already shared the dressing room with former captain MS Dhoni, who is likely to resume his role at the Chennai-based franchise, during his IPL stint with the Supergiant.

Yellow jersey awaiting the teenage sensation?