India’s Sai Sudharsan plays a shot on the first day of the India-Afghanistan Test Match at the New Chandigarh Stadium on June 06, 2026.
| Photo Credit: R.V. Moorthy
Ahead of this one-off Test against Afghanistan, India’s head coach Gautam Gambhir had dispelled any doubts about who would occupy the No. 3 slot by unequivocally backing Sai Sudharsan and giving him a long rope. At the end of play on day one, the left-hand batter from Chennai, who contributed 81 off 104 deliveries, opened up on the confidence derived from the coach’s words.
“It gives so much certainty mentally when the coach, the captain, and the team support you and want you to do well for the country. It gives a lot of freedom for you to express yourself and do what you can do at your best, rather than thinking about scoring or thinking about whether I will play the next game or not. That never arises because you have got great freedom from the team,” Sai Sudharsan said on Saturday (June 6, 2026).
In his third half-century for India, Sai Sudharsan’s on-side game was easy on the eye. A year ago, England had considerable success by setting a leg-side trap for the southpaw. At the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh Stadium, Afghanistan did have a leg slip in place to begin with, but the No. 3 didn’t succumb to the ploy.
“When it happened in England, it was something new for me. So I went back and worked on it, which helped me today,” he stated. “I played a lot of deliveries back in Chennai and saw what options I can take. It was more tactical rather than something technical”.
Published – June 06, 2026 07:15 pm IST
