When Alec Stewart was the director of cricket at Surrey, he witnessed Sai Sudharsan polishing his skills in English conditions firsthand. The Tamil Nadu batter represented the Brown Caps in 2023 and 2024.

Stewart stated that the southpaw used to practise with Dukes balls at home to ensure that he was ready if an opportunity for an India call-up arises.

Sai Sudharsan will get the opportunity to demonstrate how well the practice worked for him since he is part of India’s 18-man squad that will face England in a five-match Test series beginning on 20 June.

“When he returned home, he took several of our Dukes cricket balls with him. I didn’t charge him for them and simply let him keep them. But, no, he had that forward-thinking [mindset] and practiced with those balls, so that when he returns to us or, ideally, is selected for India’s tour, he’ll have had good preparation against the Dukes cricket ball as well’, Stewart said.

He plays the ball late, which is the most crucial factor here. Alec Stewart

The former England wicketkeeper-batsman heaped admiration on Sudharsan, noting his ability to play the ball late, which will serve him well in English conditions.

“He plays the ball late, which is the most crucial aspect here. If you go too hard and get too far out in front of yourself, when the ball seams, you lose control, and your bat can get outside of your eyeline, whereas he plays it under his eyeline, under his eyes, and late. And even if he does nip it little, as Kane Williamson did – you can nick it, but it still comes short of slip, which is another wonderful strength of Sai’s,” he continued.

Sudharsan has played three One-Day Internationals and one Twenty20 International. However, this is his first call-up to the Indian Test team. He recently won the Orange Cap in IPL 2025 and will be full of confidence going into the Test series. The 23-year-old has played 29 first-class games and scored 1957 runs at an average of 39.93.