After the loss in the finals of the recently concluded ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup ,in the built up to the future the Indian selectors decided to rest likes of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma for the upcoming ODI tour to South Africa .Under the captainship of KL Rahul one youngster who grabbed the eyeballs of the selectors was the prolific performer Sai Sudharsan. Sai Sudharsan in the absence of New Zealand’s star batter Kane Williamson played a vital role in the recently concluded IPL season 2023.
An elegant lefthander and Engineer Sai Sudharsan has been a prolific and consistent performer since his starting days at Tamil Nadu, only to increase his consistency batting at No 3 at the highest level. Through the consistent performances at domestic levels and TNPL, Sai Sudarshan was selected By Gujarat Titans in the IPL.
In the absence of injured Kane Williamson ,Sai Sudarshan came in as the impact player for Gujarat and then through the entire IPL season was effective at No 3 withe the bat at crucial junctures for his team .His career defining knock though came against Chennai Super Kings in the Final where he scored 96 runs in 47 balls .
Though Gujarat lost the final, this performance earned Sai Sudarshan a call to India A side where again at No 3 he scored 103 runs against Pakistan A to give India A a victory, thus continuing his form in the upcoming domestic season Sudarshan rightly grabbed the eyeballs of many players especially his own state teammate and the Indian offs pinner Ravichandran Ashwin
Sai Sudharsan can become a fulcrum in the XI – Ravichandran Ashwin
A fellow state mate and Tamil Nadu , Ravichandran Ashwin was seeing heaping praises and quite excited for his fellow teammate to be selected in the Indian ODI squad to South Africa. He openly spoke about him on his You-Tube channel. He expressed hope how Sai Sudharsan can make it big in the Indian batting setup through his consistency and performances. In his Youtube video here what Ashwin has to say about Sai Sudharsan.
“Performing for the national team from the state side needs a step up and I believe he has it in him. It is not easy to do that since you play in different conditions in international cricket against different bowling attacks. Sai Sudarshan can become the next Indian player from Tamil Nadu and become a fulcrum in the XI,” said Ravichandran Ashwin.
“He (Sudarshan) is travelling to South Africa with the ODI team and there’s a great chance he could open with Ruturaj Gaikwad. Even if Rajat Patidar opens with Gaikwad, Sudharsan can bat at No. 3. Remember, India are looking at a left-hander to bat in the top four. He is a brilliant player of spin and has that fight in him,” he added.
This words of admiration can do wonders to Sai Sudarshan in the upcoming ODI series vs South Africa where under KL Rahul he is directly in place to make into the playing 11 in the 1st ODI starting Dec 17 at the Wanderers in the absence of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.