Is Sai Sudharsan geared up for Test cricket?

With a first-class average of 39.93, Is Sai Sudharsan ready for the international stage? The young batter earns India call-up for England tour 2025.

Sai Sudharsan’s rise has been phenomenal. He made headlines in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023, scoring a 47-ball 96 in the final. He soon made his ODI debut as well, scoring 2 fifties in three matches he has played so far. Sudharsan has now emerged as the highest run-getter in IPL 2025, with 679 runs in 14 matches so far. He has now earned his maiden Test call for the five-match England Test series that begins next month. 

Does Sudharsan merit a place in the Test squad based on his exploits with the white ball, while his red-ball game is yet to evolve?

Let’s have a look at Sudharsan’s performance across formats and leagues:

Read More: What makes Sai Sudharsan a complete opener?

Sudharsan’s chances in red-ball cricket
Undoubtedly, Sudharsan enjoys a good record in white-ball cricket across formats and leagues. He averages 48.94 in IPL, 63.20 in ODIs, 42.96 in T20 cricket, and 60.69 in List A cricket. However, his average in First-Class cricket is below 40. 

A look at his last Ranji Trophy season’s record shows Sudharsan has shown promise with the bat in red-ball cricket. He scored a double ton in the last season. 

Sudharsan has the technique, mindset and quality of a Test batter
Going by his IPL heroics this season, it could be argued that Sai Sudharsan has the technical skills of a Test batter as he plays balls on merit, keeps a still head, and relies on scoring runs through orthodox cricket, which are prerequisites for success in Test cricket. However, it is his quality as a batter that he manages to score runs even in the dynamic T20 cricket, playing orthodox cricket relying mostly on the drives, cuts, pulls, flicks, and sweeps. You wouldn’t see Sudharsan playing ugly slogs, sweeps or hitting out to score runs. 

He is extremely balanced in his crease when he is playing those shots in the air. He relies on timing, hand-eye coordination, and nimble footwork to get the line and depth of the ball before unleashing his shots. Such a quality game would be beneficial to Sudharsan to combat the conditions in England. 

Watching Sudharsan and Shubman Gill post an unbeaten 205-run stand for the opening wicket against Delhi Capitals was a treat for Test lovers as the two batters rely on textbook shots to accumulate their runs, rather than going bang-bang to chase a total above 200. They also found gaps with ease to run their ones and twos and kept rotating the strike to keep the required run-rate in check. It bodes well for Test cricket that two young stars rely on traditional orthodox cricket to achieve success in IPL, when boundary-hitting is the norm of the day in this event. 

Read More: Tracing Karun Nair’s long road back into India’s Test squad

County success 
Sudharsan can also rely on his experience of playing county cricket to do well in the Test series against England. He has turned up for Surrey before, scoring close to 2000 runs at an average of around 40 with 7 tons and 5 fifties in 29 First-Class games. Hence, Sudharsan would not be completely alien to English conditions when he faces Ben Stokes and his bowlers. 

Sudharsan rates Test cricket highly
It also works that Sudharsan keeps playing Test cricket at a higher pedestal than the white-ball cricket or cash-rich T20 events. “It obviously feels great. Feels very special to be honest, and surreal also. Any cricketer, any young cricketer who starts playing cricket, wants to play Test cricket, wants to play for the country,” he was quoted as saying post his selection for the Test squad.

Tough challenges lie ahead for Sudharsan
However, playing Tests in English conditions can be quite a challenge even for seasoned cricketers. Sai Sudharsan has to make the most of the opportunities he gets to play in the unofficial Tests and tour game before the Test series. If he scores a few runs in those games, it would do wonders for his confidence ahead of the five-match series. However, T20 batting style may not be easy to rub off. However, Sudharsan’s batting style of playing every ball on merit and orthodox style of cricket would help him combat the challenges of English bowlers and conditions. 

Read More: IND vs ENG, Tests, 2025: India’s opening options on England tour