Home
The upcoming five-Test series in England will be a litmus test for young Sai Sudharsan who has earned his maiden call-up. Sudharsan made the right move when he decided to play County Cricket for Surrey to gain experience and stake a claim for a spot in the red-ball team. As Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli retired from the format, the selectors saw potential in Sudharsan for a spot under Shubman Gill's captaincy. England's legendary wicketkeeper-batter Alec Stewart who was Surrey's director of cricket when Sudharsan played county, was lef timpressed by the Tamil Nadu-born cricketer. Stewart recalled Sudharsan taking a few Dukes balls with him to practice.
"When he's gone back home, he's taken some of our Dukes cricket balls back with him. I didn't charge him for them and just let him have them," Stewart said on a lighter note in conversation with ESPNCricinfo.
"But, no… he had that forward-thinking [mindset] and trained with those balls, so that when he comes back to us, or hopefully [is] picked for India on tour, he'll have had nice practice against the Dukes cricket ball as well.
"Some of those will probably be worn out by now because I gave them to him last year, but he's a quick learner and he practises with a purpose. Yes, he likes volume, but he also likes to improve."
Stewart on Sudharsan replacing Kohli
Stewart understands Sudharsan has big shoes to fill as Kohli has retired from the format. But, he wants the southpaw to not think about it and focus on being the best version of himself.
"Obviously big shoes to fill, with Mr Kohli standing down. But no one can do what Virat has done. If he can go in and almost not think of 'I'm Virat' because he's not replacing him… Virat has retired. And therefore, can he not be the next Virat but can he be the best version of Sai Sudharsan? Then India have got yet another high-quality cricketer," the 62-year-old said.
Sudharsan played five matches for Surrey and scored 281 runs from eight innings at an average of 35.13. He scored a century as well for Surrey in their Championship-winning season.
Stewart compares Sudharsan to Williamson
Stewart feels that Sudharsan has got what it takes to perform in England. He even compared him to New Zealand's modern-day great Kane Williamson.
"He plays the ball late, and that's the most important thing here. If you go too hard and get too far out in front of yourself, when the ball seams, you're not in control, then your bat can get outside of your eyeline, whereas he plays it under his eyeline, plays it under his eyes, and plays it late. And even if he does nick it a little bit, like Kane Williamson, for example - you can nick it, but it still falls short of slip and that again is a real attribute of Sai's.
"The pitches are quicker here, certainly at The Oval, and to succeed, you have to be able to play off the back foot. You've got to be selective to pull, hook, cut or let go. He gets out of the [line of the] short ball well but can also play the uppercut over the slips. He's got a full array of shots, and he gets them in right order."
Sudharsan who won the orange cap for Gujarat Titans (GT) in the recently concluded Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025, will be seen in action when he plays a intra-squad game at Kent County Cricket Ground, Beckenham starting June 13.
ADVERTISEMENT
