The 5th and final Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy got underway under overcast conditions and on a pitch that has grass ideally suited for bowling. England under Ollie Pope won the toss yet again and put India into bat. Unlike previous games, India lost an early wicket as Yashasvi Jaiswal fell for 2 to Gus Atkinson. That brought Sai Sudharsan to the crease.
With India losing an early wicket, it was important for Sai to play a steady innings and show his technique. It came to the fore as he attempted to defend and blunt the bowling. KL Rahul hung with him for a while before he chopped on and then Sai built a nice stand with captain Shubman Gill before the captain was unfortunately run out. Sai also fell to a good ball from Joshua Tongue but by then he had made sure that India get out of some sort of trouble by blunting the new ball.
Sai Sudharsan’s patient knock helps blunting the new ball.Â
Sai Sudharsan walked out to bat with India at 10/1 losing Jaiswal early in the piece. Sai had to negotiate tough bowling conditions and play within himself with his solid technique. He did that really well and kept England at bay. The pressure was on the southpaw because had he fallen it would have exposed the Indian middle order early, but he kept fighting for his side.
He initially put on 28 off 72 balls with KL Rahul as Rahul also showed solid defence while he was there before Rahul played on to Chris Woakes. Then there was a nice partnership between Sai Sudharsan and Shubman Gill of 45 off 74 balls in which Gill was solid but played some lovely shots while Sai held one end up and put the bad balls away with ease. Gill was run out because of his own mistake. Sai played a patient mature knock of 38 off 108 balls with 6 boundaries to his name.
Sudharsan did the job that a Number 3 is expected to do under testing conditions in England and that was to blunt the new ball and make it a tad easier for the batters to follow. His innings allowed India to make a mini comeback in the game although the Men in Blue are not fully out of the woods yet.
Sai Sudharsan: The Number 3 India hopes to have.Â
Sai Sudharsan has had an interesting start to his Test career in England batting at Number 3. He started the series with a duck in the first innings before he played a solid knock of 30 off 48 balls. This was his debut Test and we all thought he would get a long rope at Number 3. But then, suddenly he was benched for two consecutive games with Karun Nair getting the coveted 3 spot.
At Manchester, Sai came back into the side and under overcast testing conditions he scored an invaluable 61 off 151 balls in the first innings and fell for a golden duck in the next innings. But he seems to have the technique and temperament to survive and play at 3 especially in foreign conditions and he showed that at the Oval with his gritty knock.
If we look at his First Class numbers, we will find that Sai has scored 2048 runs in 31 matches at an average of 38.6. It is not an average to be proud about but he has shown great technique even playing the other formats. He is tall and can use his height to great advantage. He is suited to play as a top order batter and in this current Indian team he is suited at 3.
The Number 3 position has been a revolving door ever since Cheteshwar Pujara was shown the door and Gautam Gambhir took over as head coach. There has been no fixed person that has been given the role which is quite surprising as the Number 3 spot is the most important position in the batting order. We have seen KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Rajat Patidar, Devdutt Padikkal, Virat Kohli, Sarfaraz Khan to name a few being tried as experiments with none being successful. No one has been able to do the job Pujara used to do for so many years.
Even in this series, Sai and Karun Nair has rotated around the Number 3 spot. There needs to be clarity and a long rope should be given to the person batting at 3. One hopes Sai Sudharsan who has a decent technique and right temperament being given the full backing and freedom to perform for his side. He should not be put under too much pressure to perform. If given the backing, given the technique and temperament that he has Sai Sudharsan could be the man India needs at Number 3 for years to come.
What Lies Ahead. Â
India are not out of the woods completely as they are at 204/6 in 64 overs after a rain truncated day came to an end. Karun Nair is batting on 52* while Washington Sundar is batting on 19*. We expect the weather to be better on Day 2 with sunshine for most parts with no real chance of rain. This is the last recognized batting pair for India as after this are bowlers who can barely hold the bat.
India will aim to get to 250 and beyond while England will hope to restrict them below that. Can India through Karun and Washington put up a fight or will England roll them over with no certainty of Chris Woakes participation due to a shoulder injury he sustained at the back-end of the day? We shall find out soon as Day 2 promises lots of action and entertainment.
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