IPL 2025 | Sai Sudharsan's art of blending style with substance

Bengaluru: Of all the shots in the book, the flick may seem the easiest of them all, especially for a sub-continental batter, because the ball is drifting into the pads and all he has to do is let the ball come on and then it’s runs for the taking. Right? 

Wrong. The flick needs a lot to go your way. 

You misjudge the line and you’re likely to get trapped in front of the stumps. You don’t adjust for bounce, there’s every chance you can scoop to any of the leg-side fielders. You turn the bat too quickly and you end up gathering a leading edge. You play it too fine and the ’keeper enters the frame. 

Then there’s the leg-side blind spot which all batters have to contend with. It’s a biological glitch you can’t undo. 

So, the flick isn’t easy, but the suppleness of the wrists of some batters does make it feel so on the eye. Like Sai Sudharsan's. 

It’s the sixth over of Gujarat Titans’ chase against Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the M Chinnswamy stadium on Wednesday. Sudharsan has played a scoop six over fine leg and a stunning straight drive off Josh Hazlewood the previous over. 

This time around, he’s up against left-arm seamer Yash Dayal. Dayal’s line drifts into the pads and Sudharsan remains tall, his backfoot slightly off the ground and his front planted in the line of the ball. 

His head is perfectly on top of the ball, elbow pointing skywards and bat itching to make contact with the ball. And then it happens. The ball kisses the face and races to the fence behind square while Sudharsan takes a few steps towards the non-striker’s end as a formality.

Sudharsan might have more shots in the book than he lets on, but he’s very much in the box still, and it seems to be working for him as he is the second-highest run-scorer in the league so far. 

“It's my fourth year (in the IPL), so I feel it has given me a lot of experience. I got exposed to a few difficult conditions. I got exposed to a lot of fast bowling in the nets with GT,” Sudharsan said in the post-match press conference. 

“I feel the most important thing which has helped my evolution or the way I've improved my T20 batting is the game-time I get here and the practice time I get here with the Titans, with the bowlers, all quality international bowlers.”

When you end up facing Kagiso Rabada, Mohammad Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Gerald Coetzee, Rashid Khana, R Sai Kishore and the like, you tend to get good at this stuff.

“So, I feel that has helped me even from the nets, I would say. I got exposed to a lot of things, a lot of difficult conditions. I've learnt a lot in these three years. I feel it has helped me understand the game better and the basics of the game as well,” he said.

That’s what it eventually always comes down to: the basics. And his technique on the flick shows you just how dialled into that stuff he is these days.