“He will trash a lot of people” - Navjot Singh Sidhu’s massive statement on Indian batter amid ENG vs IND 2025 4th Test

Former opener Navjot Singh Sidhu praised Indian batter Sai Sudharsan after Day 1 of the ongoing fourth Test against England. The game is being played at Old Trafford, Manchester. Sidhu made a huge claim on the batter after his half-century.

Sai Sudharsan was dropped after making his debut in the first Test. However, he is back in the side with Karun Nair going out. The left-hander had scores of 0 and 30 on his debut. On his return, he impressed with a gritty half-century, making 61 off 151 balls.

Navjot Singh Sidhu deemed Sudharsan as the perfect batter for the number three position based on his technical prowess. The former cricketer added that the young batter will go on to trouble and trash many.

"Till now there was a search for that number three after Cheteshwar Pujara. Looking at IPL, although it is not a parameter for Test cricket, but looking at a technically correct batter, when you are technically correct, you flow, I say this when I look at Sai Sudharsan, and I am telling it from the start. He will trouble a lot of people and he will trash a lot of people," he said on his YouTube channel. (5:04)

Navjot Singh Sidhu also expressed that the 23-year-old does not have any weakness, which is his greatest strength. Sidhu believes that Sai Sudharsan will be an established batter in all formats in the time to come.

Talking of left-handers, Sidhu pointed out where England captain Ben Stokes may have missed a trick with the selection.

"I have never seen five left-handed batters in the Indian team. If I was the England captain, if I was Ben Stokes, I would look to fill one gap. I would have played an off-spinner for five left-handers. The injury to Shoaib Bashir would prick England now," he stated. (3:48)

Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sai Sudharsan, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, and Washington Sundar are the five left-handers in the Indian team for the ongoing fourth Test.

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Navjot Singh Sidhu reflects on KL Rahul establishing himself as an opener

Further, Navjot Singh Sidhu reflected on how India has always dealt with problems when it comes to openers. Going back in time, he mentioned how there was always a search for a partner alongside the great Sunil Gavaskar.

However, he stated that in current times, there are a lot of openers across formats coming in. Among those, Navjot Singh Sidhu is happy with KL Rahul establishing himself at the position.

"The biggest perennial problem that would raise was opening batting. Even with Gavaskar I would see they would always search for an opening pair. Today it feels like there is a factory of openers. Be it T20 or Test cricket, openers are coming in. I am happy that someone like KL Rahul has established himself," he said. (2:08)

KL Rahul has impressed in the ongoing series. Batting with responsibility, he has stepped up as an opener and a senior player. The right-hander has scored 421 runs from seven innings at an average of 60.14 with two hundreds and a half-century.

Notably, Rahul became only the second Indian opener after Gavaskar to score more than 1000 runs in away countries in Test cricket. He now has 1035 runs in England from 13 Tests at an average of 41.40 with four hundreds and two fifties.