At an optional nets practice in Kolkata two days after India’s loss, he brought the same enthusiasm. India’s middle-order alternatives, excluding the injured Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant, spent just over two hours in the nets on a day off from flying to Guwahati, the site of the first-ever Test match. Sai Sudharsan was involved in that for nearly all of it.
Throughout the Eden Gardens Test, Sai Sudharsan was a consistent batting presence during the session breaks. He continued to be a big-volume hitter on the sidelines even though Washington Sundar, a colleague from Tamil Nadu, batted in his top-order position and Axar Patel assumed his place in the squad. Sitanshu Kotak, his batting instructor, was throwing balls at him during the breaks on all three days.
Washington seemed to have good technique and showed patience against spinners on a challenging surface during his good audition for a long rope at No. 3 in the Kolkata match. For now, Shubman Gill’s standing will determine Sudharsan’s admission. Despite being photographed with a cervical collar, the India captain was released from the hospital in Kolkata a day ago. It is unclear if he will be able to defend the pitch in four days.
Washington and Sudharsan got off at opposing ends and adjacent nets on Tuesday. The effect of what they encountered in the match against South Africa’s Simon Harmer was replicated when the off-spinner bowled to Ravindra Jadeja and Dhruv Jurel for around half an hour. While Akash Deep was working at the fast bowling nets, Sudharsan began working there after receiving instructions from Kotak. During the first Test, Sudharsan appeared to concentrate a lot on front foot play during the sideline sessions. He started off that way once more, then changed it up. Soon after, Jurel and Sudharsan batted together, and Jadeja moved across the pitch to take throwdowns.
Gautam Gambhir, the head coach of India, arrived at the two practice nets about an hour into the session and contented himself with a look from behind the batters. He observed Sudharsan making his way to the spin nets. For the following twenty-five minutes, Sudharsan’s batting style was consistent: he charged out against left-arm spinners bowling from around the stumps and swept the off-spinners with enormous forward steps. And when Jurel chose to bowl at him for a moment, he did the same.
Midway through the session, Gambhir called Sudharsan over for a conversation from behind the stumps, during which he made some gestures regarding his front foot play. The hitter returned to tackling spin after that.
After batting for over an hour, Sudharsan, a notorious nets glutton, left the game, removed his right pad, and then had second thoughts. In order to return and continue sweeping the off-spinners for five more minutes, he hastily replaced the pad. He crossed and went to the throwdown nets after finishing, where he played sweep shots against the opposing angle, which was Nuwan Senaviratne, a left-handed throwdown specialist.
Jurel, on the other hand, adopted his own specialised routine. With just his left pad on, he walked into one of the four nets after talking to Kotak. Kotak fed balls from a closer range, while Jurel continued to sweep them backwards. After then, two net spinners took over from around three-quarters of the net’s length: an offie and a left-arm option. He also kept reversing the sweep for at least twenty minutes. Washington had a lengthy batting session at the other spin nets, leaving many deliveries and going behind the line effectively without getting nicked off. It’s a lot of what he did in the first Test, where he emerged as one of India’s few batting assets.
Before trying to achieve series parity, India will have two additional training days after landing in Guwahati on Wednesday.
Guwahati is a new place for Test cricket, although the home team will probably put its batsmen through more spin-heavy preparation in the lead-up because of Simon Harmer’s influence in Kolkata.
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