Sai Sudharsan: I have 'a lot of things to improve' in my T20 game

Gujarat Titans (GT) opener Sai Sudharsan, the current Orange Cap holder, played a crucial role in his team making it to the IPL 2025 playoffs, but believes he has "a lot of things to improve" in his T20 game. Sai Sudharsan has already made his white-ball debuts for India and has also been picked for the upcoming five-Test series in England starting next month, but wants to improve on a few more things before he plays T20s again.

"I mean, playing for the country is obviously a dream for everybody, so I would love to do that," he said when asked about his chances for the T20 World Cup next year after GT crashed out of the IPL in the Eliminator. "But I'm not thinking on those lines because if you see about the season, I have a lot of things to improve as a T20 batter. There are so many facets of the game, or so many sectors, I should improve when I play T20 again. So I'm focusing more on that. Of course, when I get an opportunity, I will give my best for the country.

"It's good to see that I had a good season or I was consistent enough for my team, but I think when the job is not finished, you don't get the ultimate satisfaction when you get back home. So, definitely, there's a lot of disappointment in the [team] environment because of the way we played the first 12 or 13 games, which was fantastic to see as a group or as a team from outside. Even when in hindsight you look at a season like this, I think our team was so good they did a lot of jobs really well. So finishing a tournament like this, definitely it doesn't give that complete satisfaction. But, yeah, appreciating the performances and of course learning from it is the is the thing forward."

Sai Sudharsan top-scored for GT against Mumbai Indians (MI) on Friday night, with a stroke-filled 80 off 49 balls that kept the stiff chase of 229 in the balance till he was around. But after he was bowled by Richard Gleeson in the 16th over, the equation reading 59 from 26 after the dismissal, GT fell away.

GT captain Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan did a lot of the heavy lifting among the GT batters this season, scoring 912 runs as an opening pair, the third-highest tally in an IPL season. But the responsibility fell on Sai Sudharsan's shoulders early in the chase against MI as Gill fell for 1 in the opening over, and there was no Jos Buttler, the team's third-highest scorer, to follow as he had left for national duties. Kusal Mendis replaced Buttler in the XI but he was hit wicket for 20.

"Yes, definitely a batter like Shubi when he gets out, it creates a little difficulty in the environment and of course in the game of play," Sai Sudharsan said. "So, again, I was aware of it and it was clear that we know how Kusal bhai can play. We've seen him play quite a lot of times in the nets, so I was confident enough that we could get those runs, of course. And I was believing in myself, I was even telling Kusal bhai that we can definitely do it if we have a good play. And likewise, we had a fantastic powerplay. I think we believe more on ourselves and took the game forward and the game was on course for a long period of time."

Sai Sudharsan and Mendis powered GT to 66 for 1 in the powerplay, and even after Mendis fell three balls after the field spread out, Washington Sundar and Sai Sudharsan kept the pressure on MI with a partnership of 84 off just 44 balls that took GT to 100 in the tenth over. There was, however, a brief stoppage of play when Suryakumar Yadav got some treatment after the 13th over and the partnership was broken four balls later.

Did that stoppage break a team's momentum?

"I mean, it can. It can definitely make a difference, but I feel we were aware of it," Sai Sudharsan said. "That was a good thing about me and Washy, we had a conversation about it and we were together. We were not waiting for the game to start. We were just looking at what all things we have to see. I think it was 12th or 13th over. So we were aware of it because we've seen certain occurrences before, so we were having that conversation and thinking about what we have to do rather than, you know, losing that momentum there."

One of the things that cost GT some extra runs was their sloppy fielding as they put down three catches, including two off Rohit Sharma in the powerplay, and the MI opener went on to score 81 off 50. Sai Sudharsan said "it could have cost a bit" because the ball was still swinging in the powerplay and it would not have been easy for a new batter coming in.

Sai Sudharsan's next assignment is the India A tour of England, which started on the same day as the Eliminator with the first four-day game in Canterbury. It remains to be seen if both Sai Sudharsan and Gill make it in time for the second fixture starting on June 6 in Northampton, but GT's early elimination from the playoffs does give the duo extra time to fly out and get some red-ball game time.

Sai Sudharsan has also played county cricket for Surrey, which was a "great experience" for him.

"I think I played seven [county] games so it gave me a great experience, to be honest," he said. "It improved my batting multiple-folds in terms of technique and in terms of basics. It told me basics are the most important thing in batting. So it should help me and I'll focus more on what I learnt and I'll try and be aware and create those awarenesses before going into the series."