Sai Sudharsan’s 96-run knock helped Gujarat Titans post a record 214/4 against CSK (Sportzpics)
Meet Sai Sudharsan, the Gujarat Titans middle order batter who comes Chennai and fired a memorable 96-run knock in the IPL 2023 against Chennai Super Kings
Sai Sudharsan played arguably the most important knock of his career against Chennai Super Kings as he smashed 96 runs in the IPL 2023 final at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Monday, May 29. The middle-order batter from Chennai helped GT post the highest-ever total in an IPL final as they posted 214/4 against MS Dhoni’s forces.
Having made his IPL debut against Punjab Kings last season, Sudharsan has become a key figure for GT ever since.
The 21-year-old played his first match after Vijay Shankar had to sit out with a back spasm. In his first game, 35 from 30 having smashed four fours and one six before falling prey to Rahul Chahar while Mayank Agarwal took the catch.
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Sudharsan has come a long way from then, he was one of the breakout stars during the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) 2021 season wherein he notched 358 runs from eight innings. The youngster was the second-highest run-scorer having averaged 1.60 and a strike rate of 143.77 as his franchise Lyca Kovai Kings made it into the Eliminator.
Having been signed by Gujarat Titans for his base price of INR 20 runs, the youngster has made the deal look like a steal.
In his IPL career so far, Sudharsan has smashed 507 runs in 13 matches, he featured in five games last year, scoring 145 runs as Gujarat lifted the IPL 2022 title, and this year, the 21-year-old has 362 under his belt in 8 innings at an average of 51.71 with his best score coming in the summit clash against CSK.
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Few people know that Sudharsan’s father Bharadwaj is also a former Indian athlete who represented the nation in the South Asian (SAF) Games while his mother Usha Bharadwaj played volleyball for the state team of Tamil Nadu.
The young GT batsman was a menace in age-group cricket, he was the opener for India A in the 2019-20 Under-19 Challenger Trophy alongside guess who? Yashasvi Jaiswal, the Rajasthan Royals opener also impressed earlier this season, and was recently included in India’s standby list of players for the WTC final 2023.