When Alec Stewart was the director of cricket at Surrey, he witnessed firsthand how Sai Sudharsan was developing his skills under English conditions. The 2023 and 2024 seasons saw the Tamil Nadu batter play for the Brown Caps.
In order to be ready for an India call-up, Stewart disclosed that the southpaw would occasionally bring Dukes balls home to practise. As a member of India’s 18-man squad, Sudharsan will get the opportunity to demonstrate how well the practice went for him when they play England in the five-match Test series beginning on 20 June.
He brought some of our Dukes cricket balls with him when he returned home. I simply gave them to him without charging him for them. “However, he trained with those balls and had that forward-thinking [mindset], so that when he returns to us, or hopefully [is] picked for India on tour, he’ll have had nice practice against the Dukes cricket ball as well,” ESPNCricinfo reported Stewart as saying.
The most crucial factor in this situation is that he plays the ball late: Alec Stewart
The former England batsman-wicketkeeper showered Sudharsan with praise, emphasising that his ability to play the ball late can help him in English conditions.
“The most crucial factor in this situation is that he plays the ball late. Your bat can go outside of your eyeline if you hit it too hard and get too far out in front of yourself when the ball seams. In contrast, he plays it late, beneath his eyes, and under his eyeline. Additionally, even if he does nick it slightly—like Kane Williamson, for instance—it still doesn’t slip, which is another genuine quality of Sai’s, he continued.
To far, Sudharsan has participated in one T20I and three ODIs. He has never before been called up to the Indian Test team, though. He will be feeling quite confident going into the Test series after winning the Orange Cap in the IPL 2025. The 23-year-old has scored 1957 runs at an average of 39.93 in 29 first-class games thus far.
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