Sai Sudharsan relishes his first Test fifty, says Pant was in a lot of pain
MANCHESTER: Pictures and videos of B Sai Sudharsan, left-hand batter from Tamil Nadu, doing shadow batting near the covered wicket started doing the rounds as soon as India announced their playing XI against England for the fourth Test here at the Old Trafford Ground on Wednesday morning.
Dropped after the first match in Leeds, the 23-year-old Sai Sudharsan not only replaced Karun Nair on Wednesday but also went on to slam his first half-century scoring 61 runs. Obviously he was happy and spoke about the shadow batting he was doing a day before the match during the post-day press conference. “I do it every day. That’s my go-to thing. So, I do it whenever possible, whichever time it is possible, I always visualise it. It’s a great, great skill which anybody can possess and mentally you’ll be ready. So, I always do it every day and before every game,” he told the reporters here after the first day’s play. He also spoke about Rishabh Pant’s injury.
Sai Sudharsan was at the non-striker’s end when Pant got hit and said the wicketkeeper-batter was in immense pain. “He was in a lot of pain definitely, but they’ve gone for scans. We’ll get to know overnight, probably get the information tomorrow. So, it will definitely have consequences (if the injury is serious). But at the same time, the batters who are batting right now and there are a few more all-rounders inside. So, we’ll try and give our best and bat long so that we (4:51) negotiate that loss very well.”
After the good opening partnership between KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal, the visitors lost three quick wickets to be reduced to 140/3 in the second session but Sai Sudharsan along with wicketkeeper-batter Pant provided solidity in the middle-order to make sure the team cross 200-run mark.
The batter spoke on the pitch and said there was variable bounce in it which needed to be negotiated in the beginning. “There’s a bit of variable bounce. It was a two-paced wicket as well and overcast was also there. So, throughout the day there were cloud covers and the ball was moving and doing something or the other from the wicket. I want to negotiate that really well and I thought I played a bit tighter and took some time on the wicket.”
On Wednesday before he came out to bat, he was also seen doing something on a page. Speaking on it, he said, “I was actually drawing to just pass time when I am inside, just kind of a distraction. I was kind of in the game and out the game as well. So, because our openers played really well, I was slightly tired when I went in the first innings of the first game. So intense watching the game, just tried to wind down, just relax a bit when I was outside.”