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Paul Skenes was on the mound for the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday, up against a stalwart Philadelphia Phillies lineup. As he always does, Skenes didn't hesitate to go after some of the game's biggest sluggers.

In his first plate appearance, Bryce Harper got a taste of why Skenes's arm is so highly heralded. The second-year ace struck out the two-time National League MVP with three consecutive fastballs, none of which registered at less than 99 mph.

Have a look:

Skenes stayed up and away against Harper, getting him to reach out of the zone on a pair of 99 mph fastballs before striking out with a triple-digit heater in a similar location.

Nasty.

Skenes racked up five strikeouts across the first three innings of the game, needing just three pitches to dispose of Harper in the first inning.

Everton have now reportedly been contacted with the opportunity to sign an international striker who has been likened to Erling Haaland in recent years.

Barry reveals Everton "ambition" after first goal

When Iliman Ndiaye drove beyond chasing Nottingham Forest defenders before gift-wrapping the perfect chance for Thierno Barry to break his duck against Nottingham Forest, there wouldn’t have been a more relieved person inside The Hill Dickinson Stadium than the £27m signing.

The forward, now off the mark, has already set his sights on a key Everton “ambition” after finding the back of the net for the first time since his move from Villarreal in the summer.

Everton have every right to be thinking about European football after 15 Premier League games. The Toffees currently find themselves as high as seventh and just two points adrift of Crystal Palace inside the top four.

The January transfer window could help turn that ambition into a reality. The Friedkin Group already backed David Moyes in the summer, welcoming some of the club’s most expensive ever arrivals and could yet do the same when the winter window opens next month.

Best signing since Ndiaye: 9/10 star is Everton's "most important" player

This Everton star shone in their 3-0 win over Nottingham Forest

ByJoe Nuttall Dec 7, 2025

On that front, the search for a striker is still on despite Barry’s goal drought coming to an end. The likes of Joshua Zirkzee are beginning to emerge as serious options, with Everton reportedly ready to pounce in the race to secure his signature.

What’s more, the Toffees are also reportedly among the clubs to be offered the chance to sign Evan Ferguson in the January transfer window as he looks to finally revive his career.

Everton offered chance to sign Ferguson

Everton have now been contacted with the chance to sign Ferguson, according to TeamTalk, with AS Roma likely to bring his loan spell to an end next month.

The 21-year-old was supposed to get back to his best in Italy, but has scored just once in 14 games. A much-needed move has turned into a nightmare spell.

Everton, however, know all about getting players back to their best. Jack Grealish was becoming a forgotten star at Manchester City. Now, he’s thriving under Moyes. The same can be said for Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, who has become one of Everton’s most important players despite struggling at Chelsea last season.

Now, Ferguson could be next in line. The potential is certainly there, too. At 21 years old, the Republic of Ireland international is still a few years away from his peak and Everton should look to land what could prove to be an undeniable bargain next month.

Style-wise, Ferguson would arguably suit the current, physical version of the Premier League, especially given that Gary Lineker once compared him with Haaland – saying: “I don’t want to get carried away but I do see a hint of Haaland about him. His stature and his movement and stuff like that. His youth, as well.”

Dewsbury-Hall repeat: PL talent ready to leave his club with Everton keen

Fisher, whose only Test so far came against West Indies in 2022, is already in Australia with England Lions

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Dec-20251:06

Is this the end for Mark Wood with England?

Mark Wood has been ruled out of the remainder of the Ashes series following a recurrence of the left-knee injury he sustained during the first Test in Perth. Matthew Fisher has been named his replacement.Fisher, whose only Test so far came against West Indies in 2022, is a six-foot-two seamer with a high release point. He is already in Australia as part of the England Lions side and will link up with the senior team this week. The third Test in Adelaide starts on December 17.Wood, who turns 36 in January, was hoping to be available for the last two Tests, in Melbourne and Sydney, but at the same time, he admitted that age was catching up with him. “Wood will return home later this week and will work closely with the ECB medical team on his rehabilitation and recovery,” an ECB statement said.Related

Bazball is dead (even if England aren't quite yet)

Hazlewood out of Ashes, Cummins confirmed for Adelaide

“Gutted to be out the remainder of the Ashes,” Wood wrote in an Instagram post. “After extensive surgery and seven long, hard months of work and rehab to get back into the Test arena, my knee just hasn’t held up. None of us expected this. I came here with high expectations about making a big impact. I’m desperately disappointed that despite yet more injections and intensive medical treatment, it has become clear that the flare-up in my knee is worse than feared.”I’m really sorry that it has left me unable to perform as expected but it is not for want of trying. Whatever happens, I will continue to push the limits to get back again. It has been a tough road these past few months but I remain determined to give it another proper go. I still believe we can turn things around. Never give in. Come on, England.”Wood had surgery on his left knee after hobbling out of England’s Champions Trophy campaign in February. The series opener in Perth was his first Test match in 15 months. He bowled 11 wicketless overs across the match and was sent to a specialist after reporting pain in his knee. He missed the second Test in Brisbane, which Australia won by eight wickets to take a 2-0 lead.Earlier in the day, Australia’s Josh Hazlewood was also ruled out of the series. But the hosts will be bolstered by the return of their captain Pat Cummins. Usman Khawaja, who missed the second Test with a back issue, is also expected to be fit and available for the third Test.

Real Madrid figureheads have reportedly held talks over Xabi Alonso's future after a damaging 2-0 loss to Celta Vigo. Los Blancos suffered a disappointing home defeat, which included red cards to Fran Garcia and Alvaro Carreras, putting them further behind La Liga leaders Barcelona. Now, speculation is mounting that their upcoming Champions League clash with Manchester City could be pivotal for the 44-year-old.

Madrid's woes continue

Six weeks ago, Madrid were basking in the glow of a Clasico win over Barcelona, giving them a five-point cushion at the top of the table. Fast forward to the present and Los Blancos have been left reeling by a 2-0 home loss to Celta Vigo on Sunday, which was Os Celestes' first win at Santiago Bernabeu for 19 years. They now sit four points adrift of bitter rivals Barcelona and if Villarreal win their game in hand, Alonso's side will drop down to third in the division. After this shock result, the former Bayer Leverkusen manager, who joined the Spanish giants this summer, admitted this was a "significant setback".

He told reporters: "We had planned for this match after the Bilbao game to play at a high tempo and press against a good opponent. We were lacking in some areas, and the injury disrupted our plans. It's bad news; we're already struggling with injuries. This is another significant setback. We struggled to react; perhaps our best reaction came when we were down to ten men. The team pressed hard, we ran, and we tried. We understand that the fans left angry. We have to show a different side on Wednesday."

Indeed, Madrid are currently without injured defenders Eder Militao, Daniel Carvajal, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Ferland Mendy among others. 

AdvertisementGetty Images SportAlonso under pressure

According to , after taking just six points from a possible 15 in La Liga, the biggest talking point around the club is Alonso's managerial future. Following Sunday's loss, club president Florentino Perez and general director Jose Angel Sanchez, among other senior leaders, held internal discussions about the team's situation and Alonso's position. The report adds that none of the sources around the club felt confident in saying the ex-Liverpool player would still be in charge if City beat Los Blancos in the Champions League on Wednesday. The Spanish giants are said to be keen on continuing with this Alonso project but results matter most at such a demanding club. The board are reportedly unhappy with the team's image and recent results and there are concerns the players don't have a good connection with Alonso and his ideas. If he is sacked, they may turn to Real Madrid Castilla coach Alvaro Arbeloa or Los Blancos legend Zinedine Zidane, although it is uncertain whether he would return to the club for a third time as manager.

Alonso calls for unity

Amid this unsatisfactory run of results, Alonso has called for everyone to rally around one another and trust the process. He also stressed there is a long way to go this season and that they can come good.

He added: "If we all stick together, knowing that this is football, we can reverse the situation. There’s still a long season ahead, and having a bad game at home is normal. It’s not ideal, but we have to look ahead. We know what self-criticism and high standards this club demands. We know that defeats hurt a lot. This is everyone’s responsibility, not just the players, coaching staff, or the club. We all have to commit to doing things right and approach each match as the most important one. Today, the three points we dropped are important, but not decisive. There’s still a long way to go. It’s a responsibility and a job for everyone to do together."

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Getty Images SportMan City test next

Madrid are currently fifth in the Champions League table, putting them in a strong position to progress to the knockout stages of the competition. But that could be under threat if they lose to a rejuvenated City in midweek. 

Ahead of that clash, Alonso said: "We all take the blame. We're all in this together through thick and thin. We have to handle it with the responsibility we have to assume. We shouldn't look too far ahead. The situation is tight because of the injuries; we have to change things every game. We'll see what happens on Wednesday."

Voll and King, stars of the WBBL, will be on show in the ODIs against India. For their part, the visitors have a top order to figure out

Srinidhi Ramanujam and Tristan Lavalette04-Dec-2024India are coming off a 2-1 win against New Zealand at home but they know they are yet to win an ODI series against Australia in Australia. These teams have met 16 times in women’s ODIs in Australia, and India have lost 12 of those games. Come Thursday, India will be keen to begin to correct that record, against a Tahlia McGrath-led Australian side, in the first of three ODIs, in Brisbane. Both teams will need to address a couple of cracks, with the 2025 ODI World Cup in India less than a year away. Here are the talking points ahead of the series.Australia turn attention to ODIs after T20 World Cup disappointmentIndicative of the increasingly crowded women’s calendar, the Australian players didn’t have much time to take stock over their shock semi-final exit at the recent T20 World Cup in the UAE, with the WBBL season starting almost immediately after.But as they’ve come together in Brisbane ahead of the India ODI series, the squad and team hierarchy debriefed over what went wrong in the UAE. Hoping to learn lessons from a rare failure, Australia are now setting their sights on 50-over cricket as they start preparations for a title defence at next year’s World Cup.This series and the subsequent tour of New Zealand will round out Australia’s ICC Women’s Championship matches.Having not played ODI cricket since a tour of Bangladesh in March, Australia will be led by McGrath who takes the captaincy reins from the injured Alyssa Healy as she did at the end of the T20 World Cup. It will be McGrath’s first full series as captain with Ash Gardner her deputy.Veteran Ellyse Perry had the role in the latter stages of the T20 World Cup, but Australia’s hierarchy is keen to further the leadership of Gardner, who has assumed the vice-captaincy a couple of times before.”I’m more of a quieter leader… lead from the front, small conversations, and I think my biggest strength in leadership is my calmness,” McGrath told reporters on Wednesday. “Midge [Healy] and I balance each other really well. I’m hoping to do the same with Ash because she has strengths of her own that complement mine.”Priya Punia is likely to open alongside Smriti Mandhana•PTI A rejigged Indian top order without ShafaliShafali Verma’s poor ODI returns of late means she has been dropped from the squad but with Yastika Bhatia – who batted at No. 3 against New Zealand – also getting injured, Harmanpreet Kaur and Co will need two players who can slot in at the top of the order.The captain backed Shafali to find form again, and said on the eve of the series that “she is a very important player for us and has done exceptionally well for the country. We are looking forward to seeing her get back into her zone and perform well for the team.”In her absence, Priya Punia might open with Smriti Mandhana. Punia has played only three ODIs since 2023 and has been in and out of the team. She made a comeback against South Africa in June this year (and made 28 from No. 3) on the back of impressive performances in domestic cricket but was dropped for the New Zealand series. However, she was part of the A tour of Australia in August, when she opened and made 76, 29 and 11 in the T20s and 6 and 1 in one-dayers.There’s no definite answer to who is India’s No. 3 in ODIs. There’s a possibility that India might ask one of Harleen Deol – whose last ODI was against Australia at home in December 2023 – or the uncapped Uma Chetry to slot in at one-drop. The second scenario will be to promote Richa Ghosh or Jemimah Rodrigues. Currently, both of them bat in the middle order but they have the experience of batting at No. 3; Ghosh was a brief experiment at one-drop against Australia last December where she even made a career-best 96. But it’s been three years since Rodrigues, who began her ODI career as an opener in 2018, was seen in the top three.By moving one of Ghosh or Rodrigues up, India would be able to accommodate Tejal Hasabnis, who made her India debut against New Zealand, in the middle order. Hasabnis played a steady innings of 42 in her debut game at No. 6 when India were in a spot of bother. She also toured Australia with the A squad and hit three fifties in as many one-dayers in Mackay.Georgia Voll finished fifth in the WBBL run charts•Getty ImagesVoll gets her chanceWhile Australia’s experienced squad brims with familiar names, 21-year-old Georgia Voll adds fresh blood having replaced Healy in the squad. She gets her chance in national colours after several eye-catching performances to start the domestic season.The powerful right-hander smashed 98 off 94 balls for Queensland against Western Australia in the WNCL before igniting the early stages of the WBBL with two scores in the 90s.It vindicated her move from Brisbane Heat to Sydney Thunder, with Voll finishing fifth overall in the runs charts with 330 at a strike rate of 144.73. Her breakout season was rewarded with selection in the WBBL Team of the Tournament.Voll looks set to open the batting alongside Phoebe Litchfield in a partnership that could foreshadow what lies ahead for Australia. “It’s been a while since we’ve had a fresh face in the side,” McGrath said of Voll. “There’s a lot of excitement. She’s been knocking down the door for a while. She’s more than ready to compete at this level.”India explore pace optionsIn-form King hoping to shrug off finger injuryAfter being benched throughout the T20 World Cup, legspinner Alana King bounced back with a standout WBBL season. She finished with the most wickets in the round-robin phase, taking 20 at an average of 13.30.But King injured the pinkie finger on her right bowling hand during Perth Scorchers’ final game of the season. She did take part in Australia’s training session on Tuesday in an encouraging development for King, who last played for Australia during the ODI series in Bangladesh earlier this year.King could be particularly relied upon when the series concludes on December 11 at the WACA. Relishing the surface’s renowned bounce, King has seemingly mastered the conditions and claimed 11 wickets at an average of just 8.37 in four WBBL matches there this season.”I’m not a tall person by any means, so having that extra bit of bounce has helped me get different modes of dismissals [at the WACA],” King told ESPNcricinfo earlier this month.Chetry as back-up keeper to GhoshGhosh has returned to the side after missing the home ODIs against New Zealand because she had to sit her board exams. Bhatia, who kept wicket against New Zealand, has been sidelined for this series due to a wrist injury, so Chetry will be the back-up wicketkeeper to Ghosh.Chetry has played four T20Is, all this year. In November, she was the second-highest run-getter in the domestic T20 Challenger Trophy with 231 runs at a strike rate of 154. She also scored 122 off 71, the only hundred in the competition. Chetry also has the experience of touring Australia, with India A side in August, though she didn’t leave a mark with the bat. In three white-ball games across formats, she accumulated 34, and made 2 and 47 in the four-day game.It should be noted that Chetry has been travelling with India’s white-ball squads on and off since July 2023, when she first earned her maiden call-up to the tour of Bangladesh.

The Houston Astros are set for a reunion with longtime shortstop Carlos Correa after they agreed to a trade with the Minnesota Twins to bring him back ahead of Thursday's trade deadline.

Correa is set to take over at third base in Houston to replace the injured Isaac Paredes, who will miss the rest of the season. The 30-year-old initially left the team after the 2021 season and spent the last four years in Minnesota, but will now to the place where his MLB career started.

Speaking with MLB.com, Correa explained why he opted to waive his no-trade clause for a homecoming with the Astros. He said that the current trajectory of the Twins, who don't figure to be contenders any time soon, wasn't a direction that aligned with what he wanted for his career, so the two sides agreed to find a trade.

"I let them know there was only one team I would allow that to happen," Correa said, via Brian McTaggart.

Correa played the first seven years of his career for the Astros, making two All-Star Games and winning the World Series in 2017. He's under contract through the 2028 season, making an average of $33.3 million per season, though the Twins are expected to take on some of his salary as part of the trade.

With the Astros making some big moves at the deadline, they brought back a franchise favorite in Correa, who made clear there was no other team he'd have been willing to be traded to.

LOS ANGELES — Two hours after the best player in the history of baseball played the best game in the history of baseball, he headed home from the office. Shohei Ohtani was not holding the National League Championship Series Most Valuable Player award or the 2025 World Series swag he had earned that night; the half-dozen members of his agency and his security team trailing him could handle that. And besides, his hands were full: He was pushing a Nuna stroller containing his six-month-old daughter and, in the basket below her, his Nederlandse Kooikerhondje. 

Almost more impressive than the feats Ohtani achieves on a nightly basis—the devastating splitters, the towering home runs, the fact that sometimes, as on Friday, three minutes pass between the two—is this: He is both the most and least normal person at the ballpark. 

The former posture helps him attain the latter performance. He spent two weeks listening to reporters, fans and his own manager question whether his pursuit of pitching greatness was hindering his mastery of hitting greatness. After an excellent regular season—a league-leading 1.014 OPS, plus a 2.87 ERA in 47 innings—he scuffled at the plate in the playoffs. In the National League Division Series, he was 1-for-18 with nine strikeouts, and his swing decisions mystified his bosses. 

“We’re not going to win the World Series with a performance like that,” manager Dave Roberts lamented before the NLCS began. 

His longer-format skills haven’t always translated to T20 success, but he’s raised his game to a new level this season

Sidharth Monga23-Oct-2020As a T20 death bowler, Mohammed Shami has his limitations. Unlike Jasprit Bumrah, he has an orthodox action. Unlike Mitchell Starc, he doesn’t bowl left-arm. Unlike Jofra Archer, he doesn’t bowl 150kph. Unlike Kagiso Rabada, his hard lengths tend to skid on because of his height. Unlike Dwayne Bravo, he doesn’t have fancy slower balls or the experience of having bowled in a million T20 leagues. Unlike in ODI cricket, the ball hardly reverses in 20-overs cricket. Shami’s predicament in the shortest format is not too different to Test legend Dale Steyn’s: take away some swing, add some seam, you have Shami.With that little going for him, Shami is still the Kings XI Punjab’s lead bowler. In a way, on the surface, Shami’s shortcomings show in the team’s overall results. In this IPL, one of his better years, Shami has conceded 12.60 per over in the death (last four) overs of innings. That’s the fifth-worst economy rate among those who have bowled at least five overs in that phase. And yet, Shami has been an essential part of the revival of the Kings XI’s campaign, which features wins over the top three sides in their last three games.In the match against the Royal Challengers Bangalore, Shami contributed with the wicket of AB de Villiers, who had been held back because of the presence of two legspinners in the Kings XI attack. When the Royal Challengers felt the match-ups were right, though, Shami got de Villiers out with a slower short ball.Against the Mumbai Indians, Shami got the big wicket of Hardik Pandya with a hard-length ball in the 16th over, thus limiting the damage at the end of the innings. He conceded just 15 in his last two overs, the 16th and the 19th. And then he returned to bowl a Super Over for the ages with six yorkers to defend just five runs and take the match into the second Super Over, which the Kings XI won.

Shami's improvement since IPL 2019, & his great yorkers this season is a great encouragement to all of us that improvement, even at a later stage is not beyond any of us if we work hard at it.

— Ian bishop (@irbishi) October 20, 2020

Against the Delhi Capitals, Shami bowled the 18th and the 20th, conceding just 13 runs, taking out Marcus Stoinis with an attempted yorker and Shimron Hetmyer with a perfect one. The Capitals eventually ended short of a challenging total by ten runs, by the estimation of their captain Shreyas Iyer.It’s not just his economy of late, but also the wickets that Shami has been taking, which has helped take the heat off the other overs. He has taken nine wickets at the death in this IPL, behind only Rabada’s 11. It can be argued Rabada benefits from the pressure created by his excellent bowling unit whereas Shami’s wickets actually buy his colleagues some relief. Let us be wary of over-estimating the worth of wickets at the death, because teams keep on hitting regardless, but you are still better off – even if slightly – bowling to batsmen who are not de Villiers, Pandya, Stoinis or Hetmyer.Shami has turned it around with yorkers. Not even counting the six he nailed in the Super Over against Mumbai Indians, Shami has bowled a higher percentage of yorkers than Bumrah, Archer or Rabada. Only T Natarajan has bowled more yorkers than Shami at the death this IPL. And this is going by the definition of the yorker according to the pitch maps: within two metres of the stumps. Sometimes a batsman is charging at you, and you shorten the length to york him, which then ends up being counted as a slot ball. Shami has a few there that have resulted in dots or singles.The yorker is a risky delivery, which is why it is tried so rarely. The margin for error for someone like Bumrah is greater than that for Shami. The Super Over is a good example, where Bumrah got away with two full-tosses because his action gives you less time to react. Shami had to get each one of his yorkers right.ESPNcricinfo LtdIf you look at overall numbers and not just the death overs, Shami has had an impressive IPL. For starters, he has bowled hardly any easy overs: all but 36 of his deliveries have been bowled in the powerplay or at the death. That is why his economy rate of 8.43 needs to be put in perspective. Let our Smart Stats do it for you. His Smart Economy rate is 7.5; among those who have bowled at least 20 overs in this IPL, only six seamers have done better. Add to it 16 wickets, not one of which is of a tailender. That is why his Smart Wickets tally is greater than Rabada’s; at 18.74, it is only behind Archer’s 18.83.ESPNcricinfo LtdShami has not gone into the off-season and added a new ball or remodelled his action or approach. Perhaps he has practised his yorkers more this year. Perhaps this being the only cricket for a major part of this year has helped him. Perhaps the slower nature of the pitches in the UAE has given him a slightly bigger margin for error, and thus more confidence and clarity, to go for the yorkers. However, it seems the biggest difference is that he has been allowed to take absolute charge of his bowling. You look at KL Rahul, his captain, and you know there is zero micromanagement. Rahul’s interview after that Mumbai match said as much: Shami said he wanted to bowl six yorkers, and Rahul just discussed the fields with him.Shami has responded well to the responsibility. If the Kings XI continue to bat as well as they have in the last three games – especially the chaos that Chris Gayle and Nicholas Pooran have introduced to the middle overs – Shami and their death bowling remain key to their qualification chances. So far, Shami the death bowler has been the revelation of this IPL, but the test of all these revelations lies in over-exposure. We will know in the coming games, but to carry an attack such as Kings XI’s this far is an achievement that should not be written off.

Both faced hardships and injuries along the way, but emerged as heroes at Australia’s fortress

Deivarayan Muthu22-Jan-2021India Test cap No. 300: T Natarajan (Age 29)
India Test cap No. 301: Washington Sundar (Age 21)
Growing up, they were separated by age and by physical distance. But over the years, the careers of left-arm seamer Natarajan and allrounder Washington intersected several times – so much so that they became good friends. And then a freakish chain of circumstances saw them make their Test debuts, improbably, in India’s historic win at the Gabba.The early years
When Washington was a kid, he and his elder sister Shailaja, who has played for Tamil Nadu women, would hop into their dad M Sundar’s scooter to play cricket at the Marina Beach in Chennai. Sundar, a former Tamil Nadu prospect and long-time coach, then trained Washington and Shailaja at the Chepauk ‘B’ ground, with Washington seamlessly ticking off several boxes along the way: Chennai first-division league, age-group cricket for Tamil Nadu, and Under-19 cricket for India.

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As for Natarajan, who grew up in Chinnappampatti, a village about 370kms away from Chennai, cricket was escapism from poverty. You might be familiar with his backstory by now.Natarajan and his protégé G Periyaswamy, who is playing for Tamil Nadu in the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament, would hop into share autos to the neighbouring towns and villages, yorking oppositions.Natarajan soon became a tennis-ball star in Salem, as did Periyaswamy, but Natarajan didn’t play red-ball cricket until 2010 or thereabouts. He hadn’t even heard about league cricket in Chennai until his tennis-ball cricket team-mate and now godfather Jayaprakash helped him get a gig with the BSNL fourth-division team there.Related

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TNPL 2016
By 2016, Natarajan had risen through the ranks in Chennai like Washington, although belatedly. In the 13th match of the inaugural season of the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL), a nerveless Natarajan delivered six yorkers back-to-back in a Super Over, turning the heads of the IPL scouts. Guess who was one of the batsmen facing him? Washington kept out two of those yorkers, including the last ball.However, as the tournament progressed, Washington seized his other chances – both with ball and bat – himself attracting the attention of the IPL scouts.Washington Sundar made his India debut in 2017, the same year in which he was picked by the Rising Pune Supergiants in the IPL•Getty ImagesIPL 2017
Stephen Fleming, the then Rising Pune Supergiants’ coach, liked what he’d seen of Natarajan, and the franchise made the opening bid for the left-armer at the 2017 auction. The Supergiants’ management tussled with the Kings XI Punjab until the bid was escalated to nearly INR 1 crore (approx. US $136,936) from the base price of INR 10 lakh (approx. US $13,693). As it turned out, the Kings XI went all out for Natarajan and scooped him up for INR 3 crore (approx. US $410,809).The Supergiants didn’t get Natarajan, but they got Washington as a replacement player after R Ashwin had suffered an injury. Washington fronted up to take the new ball in the powerplay and helped them to within touching distance of winning the IPL title.As for Natarajan, he had a tougher initiation into the IPL and was perhaps weighed down by the price-tag pressure. He struggled to nail his yorkers like he had in the TNPL and tennis-ball cricket. The IPL jackpot, however, enabled him to realise his dream of establishing his own cricket academy in Chinnappampatti. Washington was among the chief guests Natarajan had invited to launch his academy after IPL 2017, but seemingly he couldn’t make it in the end.Battling injuries
Washington made his ODI and T20I debuts for India in 2017, while Natarajan returned to domestic cricket. Injuries didn’t help Natarajan either, with an elbow complaint forcing surgery in November 2017. It was around this time that Natarajan placed greater focus on his fitness. He went on a meat-heavy diet, bulked up and came back to become Tamil Nadu’s lead seamer.

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On India’s tour to the UK in 2018, Washington suffered a freak injury while playing football. He had hurt multiple ligaments in his ankle, and although he didn’t need surgery, he was bed-ridden for several weeks. He then underwent rehab at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru and eased his way back into the state side, before returning to the national reckoning.T Natarajan emerged as IPL 2020’s yorker specialist, enjoying a breakout season in the UAE•BCCIIPL 2020
Natarajan was picked by the Sunrisers Hyderabad for INR 40 lakh (approx. US $54,774) in the IPL 2018 auction, but didn’t get a single game in that season as well as the following one. Washington, in contrast, got more game-time at the Royal Challengers Bangalore in IPL 2018 and 2019, but couldn’t quite replicate his 2017 performances at the Supergiants.Both Natarajan and Washington, however, enjoyed their breakout IPL seasons in 2020 in the UAE. While Natarajan emerged as the league’s new yorker specialist, Washington re-emerged as the new-ball powerplay expert.Natarajan unites with Washington in the India team
Washington was subsequently selected in India’s T20I squad for the Australia tour, with Natarajan, who was originally picked as a net bowler for that tour, joining his good friend in the T20I side after an injury to Varun Chakravarthy. For the first time ever, Natarajan and Washington were in the India team together, with Washington even reeling off a song from Rajinikanth’s blockbuster Tamil movie on social media, to celebrate Natarajan’s call-up #friendshipgoals.

There is no subsitute for Hardwork.@Natarajan_91 pic.twitter.com/nDAMfLu6AM

— Washington Sundar (@Sundarwashi5) November 11, 2020