Sai Sudharsan well equipped to manage the English conditions, the dukes bullets brought back to the house helped

Sai Sudharsan seems to have impressed quite a few people in his cricketing journey, over the last couple of years. Apart from scoring heavily in the IPL, he made sure he prioritised red-ball cricket as well, and went on to play County cricket for Surrey in 2023 and 2024. And to see him closely there was director of cricket of the club, Alec Stewart.

The former England keeper revealed how Sai Sudharsan used to take Dukes balls with him, back home in India, so that he could prepare for Test cricket. “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. But, no he had that forward-thinking [mindset] and trained with these bullets, so that when he returns to us, or hope [is] Pické for India on tour, he will also have had a good practice against the Dukes Cricket Ball, “said Stewart, quoted by Espncricinfo.

Stewart also went on to reveal what his biggest weapon in England would be. “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,” he added.