Sai Sudharsan shows he's imperfect, but perfect for Gujarat Titans

During Gujarat Titans (GT)'s second innings against SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH), the broadcasters showed a graphic of an IPL 2024 online poll. The question read, "Which young Indian left-hander will score more runs this TATA IPL?". The options were Abhishek Sharma, who got 70% of the votes, and Sai Sudharsan with 30 percent.

It was understandable. At the time, Sudharsan was batting at less than 20 and Abhishek was higher in the Orange Cap race. The latter had also hit Rashid Khan for some astonishing sixes in the previous innings and had come fresh out of a Player of the Match performance in one of the most batting-crazy T20 games ever.

Sudharsan, too, picked a Player of the Match in the Titans' first match against Mumbai Indians (MI) at home. But he hurt his reputation in the following game, against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) when in a 208-run chase, he got struck trying to rotate strike before getting out for a mundane 37 (31) to oversee a 63-run loss.

Even though none of the other nine GT players scored more runs than him and only two had a better strike rate, he was called as the root of the problem for being "too much of an anchor" and for apparently not having the range to break through.

In India, of late, anchoring the innings has become something of a taboo. Pitch, opposition bowlers, match situation, and tournament situation are all ignored and the game is often oversimplified like: 'big-hitting: good, slow-knock: stupid'.

On Sunday, he showed exactly why that's wrong. Soon after the graphic vanished, Jaydev Unadakat, after bowling a host of slower ones in the 12th over, tried to make Sudharsan chip one to mid-off by bowling it straighter, fuller, and quicker.

Sudharsan had patiently knocked around the slower ones but his footwork was inch-perfect to pounce on this one and he timed the chip to perfection for a boundary to the sight screen. Next ball? A slower one and he took another single.

The equation had come down to 73 off 48. From that point till he got out, he played just one dot ball in 16. In the next over after Unadkat's, Pat Cummins had him and David Miller in a bind by bowling a lot of short, slow bouncers outside off.

On the fifth ball, Cummins brought the third man up, increased the pace by at least 20 clicks, and pushed it at a good length, perhaps hoping to extract a break-away false shot. But Sudharsan didn't fall into the trap again.

He stood tall and deftly twisted the bat in his hand at the last possible moment sending it rolling down between the newly-placed fielder and the man at backward point just a few feet to his left. It was something similar to what Virat Kohli tried at the same venue against the same bowler in the 2023 World Cup and chopped on.

A lot was different here but Sudharsan got another much-needed boundary for his team. The next ball? You guessed it, another slower one, another single.

On the first ball of Washington Sundar's next over was short and Sudharsan put it away with ease for a boundary, followed by the same composure from him and Miller against Bhuvneshwar Kumar. And without many noticing the equation was 49 needed from 30 with the spinner Markande having one over to bowl.

He was brought it for the next and went for 24 with Miller, who was playing second fiddle till then, hitting three fours and a six, and Sudharsan tonking another big one.

"We were waiting for that one over of a spinner," Sudharsan said after the match. "There was one over definitely to be bowled by a spinner at that point of time. It was a conscious decision just taking down the spinner, and yeah, it went our way so grateful for it."

The six he hit was similar to a shot Shubman Gill tried on the first ball after the drink's break against the same bowler. He didn't reach the pitch of the ball and holed out to the edge of the boundary, cutting short a promising 36 (28).

Sudharsan got out the next over after Markande for 45 (36), with the lowest strike rate in his team, but, mostly thanks to his knock, and how he managed Miller's injury issues by taking responsibility early on, the match was sealed by then.

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Why Sai Sudharsan works for GT

He's not your average T20 big-hitter. He can be, has all the qualities for it, and has shown that before, like in the IPL 2023 final against CSK at home, but currently, he is closer to what Abhishek was a couple of years ago in terms of consistency of power-hitting against different bowlers. But GT don't want that anyway.

Unlike SRH, the Titans are playing on a pitch that offered turn, low bounce, and a lot of grip for fast bowlers even when every pitch report declared it a batting heaven. And it is likely to get worse in the coming matches.

GT have too many anchors not by fault but by design. Like every other team, they are constructed to win all matches at home and a few away. As the pitches wear down outside Ahmedabad too, they'll need more such knocks from Gill, Sudharsan, Vijay Shankar, Azmatullah Omarzai, and perhaps even Kane Williamson, not less.

Yes, in high-scoring games where you need a lot of sixes against pacers, GT can consider bringing someone like Abhinav Manohar or Shahrukh Khan instead but their trust in Sudharsan isn't wrong, and nor was it wrong last year.

"I think playing more games, playing for the country, I have played a few India 'A' tours, it has given me some maturity on how to go about things, or how to go about any situation," he said. "In those lines, compared to the last year, I feel even more mature. [I have a] few responsibilities as well... and obviously side by side, the skill is getting better because we are being exposed to difficult conditions, international conditions. I am getting a few points on what I should improve on as a batsman."

He is certainly working on his weaknesses but even right now, his strengths are too good for him to be not considered among the best white-ball talents in India.f