Two back-to-back half-centuries for young Sai Sudharsan on his India debut has mightily impressed Sunil Gavaskar. The calm and composed youngster repaid the faith of selectors with solid performances as the opener in the first two IND vs SA ODIs. Gavaskar, however, had a crucial piece of advice for Sudharsan.
Gavaskar’s advice for Sai Sudharsan
The legendary Indian cricketer urged the young southpaw to not be satisfied with scores in the 50s and 60s and urged him to focus on converting them to centuries instead. Noting that there was an opportunity for Sai to score a 100 in all games since he was batting up the order, Gavaskar said that the youngster should bat in such a way that the conversation would just be around who his partner would be and not about him.
“Now it’s a matter of them sort of carrying on from here and not being satisfied and I’m sure he’s not being satisfied. You don’t want to be getting out in the 50s and 60s. When you bat up the order, you have the opportunity to score a 100 every time. So I think that is what he’s got to grab so that somebody will be talking only about who will partner Sai Sudharsan at the top,” Gavaskar said, as per Hindustan Times.
Gavaskar was also mighty impressed with the southpaw’s temperament and talent.
“Yes, he looks very, very good. A very compact player plays close to his body, and has got a good very still head. So balance is very good when he’s playing. And, of course, when he plays drives like that. Left-handers can be so elegant when they play, they can play the pull shot as well. But basically, his temperament and talent are very, very nice,” Gavaskar said.
Sudharshan joined Navjot Singh Sidhu to achieve the unique feat of scoring back-to-back fifties after debut. In his first game, Sudharshan scored 55 runs as India defeated South Africa in the first ODI.