Sai Sudharsan breaks Shaun Marsh’s 13-year-old record to become fastest to 3,000 T20 runs

Gujarat Titans’ (GT) in-form opener Sai Sudharsan overcame an elbow injury on May 16 to walk out to bat in slog overs of the run chase against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). Sudharsan couldn’t take GT over the line in the run chase of 248 at Eden Gardens, Kolkata, but, he broke a 13-year-old T20 record. Sudharsan became the fastest to 3,000 T20 runs in terms of innings (including domestic T20s, T20Is and franchise T20 cricket). The 24-year-old southpaw took 78 innings to reach the milestone.

The previous record belonged to former Australia opener Shaun Marsh who has also represented Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings). In December 2012, Marsh completed 3,000 T20 runs in 85 innings.

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For an Indian batter, the record previously belonged to Tilak Varma. He had completed 3,000 T20 runs in November 2024. He took 90 innings to get past the 3,000 run-mark in T20s.

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Sudharsan suffers elbow injury early in run chase

Sudharsan was batting on 23 in the run chase when a short of length delivery from Kartik Tyagi hit him on the elbow. He was in visible pain but managed to complete the single. He went down on the ground, removed his gloves and the physio applied the ice pack on his elbow. He had to walk off the field retired hurt on 23 off 13 deliveries.

Sudharsan returns but run chase out of grasp

In the 17th over, Sudharsan returned to bat when skipper Shubman Gill lost his wicket to Sunil Narine for a 49-ball 85. GT needed 71 more runs from 22 deliveries, a daunting task.

In the 18th over, Sudharsan had his revenge against Tyagi, hitting him for a six and two fours. But, the required run rate was too high and Jos Buttler wasn't at his best. Buttler departed for a 35-ball 57 in the penultimate over. In the final over, Sudharsan managed to hit Cameron Green for a six to complete his 18th fifty in IPL career. But, GT ended up losing the match by 29 runs.

Sudharsan reclaims orange cap

Sudharsan remained unbeaten for 53 off 28 deliveries, featuring six fours and three sixes. The knock helped him reclaim the orange cap. From 13 innings, he has scored 554 runs at an average of 46.16 and strike rate of 157.83. He has a century and six fifties to his name this season.