After coming into the scene in the 2016 Under-19 World Cup, Washington Sundar began his journey of becoming a household name in cricket. Owing to his decent outing in the multi-nation tourney, he was given a spot in the Tamil Nadu squad for the Ranji Trophy 2016-17. The initial impression about the youngster was that he was a top-order batter with useful off-spinning abilities under his belt. But as his career progressed, he became more of a bowler, who can bat.

Sundar grabbed the headlines when the Pune franchise signed him as a replacement for Ravichandran Ashwin, who was ruled out of the 2017 season of the Indian Premier League. He turned out to be one of the finds of the season as he weaved magic with his economical bowling. In Qualifier 1 of the 10th edition of the Indian Premier League, he was named the Man of the Match for picking up a 3-fer which underlined his value as a player.

Post that he shone in the second edition of the Tamil Nadu Premier League by being the top run-scorer along with being in the top wicket-takers list as well. These performances paved way for a call-up to the Indian side in 2017. He made his debut in the two white-ball formats in a space of few days with both his maiden games coming against Sri Lanka. In the following year, the Bengaluru franchise snapped him in the auction but didn't hand him enough opportunities, however, in the coming seasons, Sundar became the go-to bowler for Virat Kohli, mainly in the Powerplay.

Washington Sundar was a part of India's squad for the Nidahas Tri-series against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka where the Men in Blue won the title. He finished with 8 wickets in total and won the Man of the Series award as well. Later on, during India's 2020-21 tour Australia, Sundar was picked as a net bowler but due to a number of injuries in the squad, he was handed his debut in the Gabba Test where he managed to impress one and all.