IPL 2025, GT vs MI: The importance of being Sai Sudharsan

Sai Sudharsan was the top-scorer for Gujarat Titans (GT) in their first win of IPL 2025, but he and his team almost had a great scare in their game against Mumbai Indians (MI). While Gujarat Titans powered their way to 196/8 and then restricted Mumbai Indians to 160/6, there was a moment of panic at the end of the ninth over of MI’s chase, when Sai Sudharsan had to be half-helped, half-carried off the field.

Suryakumar Yadav had swept Sai Sudharsan’s namesake and state-mate Sai Kishore hard to deep backward square leg. Running to his right, the Gujarat Titans put in a futile dive to try and stop the boundary. Immediately though, he clutched his left hamstring and stayed on the ground for a while.

Sudharsan importance for Gujarat Titans

He’s an extremely critical part of their batting line-up. There is no equivalent to Sai Sudharsan in their ranks, and if they ever have to play without him, they’ll have to go for a batter who can give them more cameos than consistency. It would mean a whole alteration in approach too. While Jos Buttler would naturally move up to open, the dynamics of the batting line-up to follow would change.

Without Sai Sudharsan’s remarkable ability to consistently churn out significant scores at par or better than par strike rates, Jos Buttler and Shubman Gill will probably have to adopt a more traditional approach than the slam-bang version that all teams strive for now. They would need to build a platform and then rely on the middle and lower order to contribute quick runs.

Luckily for the Titans, Sai Sudharsan’s injury didn’t seem threatening, and he was seen walking normally post match.

Sudharsan’s remarkable evolution & consistency

He has been part of the Gujarat Titans since their inaugural season in IPL 2022, but initially he was one of the bench players who got an occasional opportunity. He would have stayed on the bench in IPL 2023 too, but got his opportunity because Kane Williamson sustained an injury that put him out of the IPL.

He was doing the job that Kane Williamson would have, playing an anchor-type role at No.3, getting some good scores at a steady, rather than spectacular, strike rate. But in the IPL 2023 final, Sai Sudharsan exploded into life. He had scored above a 140 strike rate just once till then in his IPL career, but in the final he smashed 96 off 47 balls, showing the full range of what could be possible if he took root.

In IPL 2024, he had a curious mixture of belligerently aggressive innings, and steady anchoring efforts. But as he had in the IPL 2023 final, when he got hold of the bowling, he seemed unstoppable. He was particularly proficient against spin, hardly ever getting troubled.

The other thing he has been remarkable at is getting scores. Sai Sudharsan has batted 27 times in the IPL so far, and he has failed to get into double figures only once. He got six against RCB in a game last year, which was the only time he’s not crossed 10. When Sai Sudharsan takes guard, he is difficult to dislodge. His evolution is borne out by the fact that he was one of those the Gujarat Titans retained ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction.

The understated importance of his 63 vs MI

Gujarat Titans have gone with Sai Sudharsan and Shubman Gill as their opening pair for the left-right combination. It also gives Sai Sudharsan the best chance to succeed, because he’s a batter who likes to settle in first. The difference between Sai Sudharsan and other anchors is, he can accelerate so quickly and effortlessly, the slow starts don’t seem to matter. With any other batter, this would be a bit of a risk.

If anchor-type batters get out early, they set their team back. But with Sai Sudharsan, he doesn’t really get out early. His 63 off 41 ended up being the highest score in the game, and he was the only one to pass fifty on a slowish surface. Therein lies his immense value. If the pitch is a belter, Sai Sudharsan can be counted on to get his eye in and explode.

If it isn’t as easy, he can still hold the innings together and score at a decent clip. It’s fortunate that the Gujarat Titans will not have to do without Sai Sudharsan, because he’s pretty much irreplaceable.