After offering throwdowns to under-pressure Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill tells critics - 'Young players will not get a hundred in every match'

UPDATED: Oct 09, 2025 02:17 PM IST

After offering throwdowns to under-pressure Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill tells critics - 'Young players will not get a hundred in every match'

India's Sai Sudharsan (L) reacts after hitting a four alongside India's captain Shubman Gill on the first day of the fifth Test against England at The Oval in London on July 31, 2025.

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Sai Sudharsan was dismissed cheaply in Ahmedabad Test.

Sudharsan averages just over 20 after four Tests.

India won the first Test against West Indies by an innings and 140 runs but Sai Sudharsan has been under the spotlight for not justifying his place at no.3. After two fifties and a century against Australia A in Lucknow, Sudharsan departed for a single-digit score in Ahmedabad Test, dismissed lbw by West Indies captain Roston Chase. But young Sudharsan has captain Shubman Gill’s backing. On October 8, he was seen helping Sudharsan in the nets, offering throwdowns. When asked about Sudharsan’s place in the team in the pre-match press conference, Gill said that the team management is looking to give the youngster a long rope at no.3.

“Young players will not get a hundred in every match. You have to give them the chance and then only decide what else he can do to better. Right now we see him as a long term batter who’ll bat for us at no.3,” Gill told the reporters on October 9 at Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi.

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Sudharsan made his Test debut in England. From four Tests, he has 147 runs from seven innings at an average of 21. He scored just one half-century in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy 2025.

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Who can replace Sudharsan at no.3 in India’s Playing XI?

The other options in the current squad who can bat at no.3 are Devdutt Padikkal and Narayan Jagadeesan. Padikkal batted at no.3 in opening Test of Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 in Perth. Jagadeesan is capable of batting in the top-order as well.

Jagadeesan scored 197 against North Zone in Duleep Trophy 2025 fixture. He scored 138 runs from three innings against Nathan McSweeney-led India A. Padikkal scored 150 in the first game against Australia A in Lucknow but followed it up with scores of 1 and 5 in the second game.

India’s Test squad against West Indies

Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill (c), Dhruv Jurel (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, N Jagadeesan, Axar Patel, Prasidh Krishna, Devdutt Padikkal.