B Sai Sudharsan, the Orange Cap winner from IPL 2025, had a patchy start to IPL 2026 – just one innings of note, 73 in 44 balls against Rajasthan Royals – before striking 100 in 58 balls against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) on Friday. Gujarat Titans (GT) lost to RCB, just like they had against RR. He “did his part”, Ian Bishop said, but pointed out that the lack of speed in the scoring as he neared his century was a concern, and might have cost GT the match.
“He’s one of the guys that needed to step up his aggression level. For the most part of that innings, I thought [he] was outstanding for a very orthodox player,” Bishop said on ESPNcricinfo’s TimeOut show. “I think that hundred would be very, very pleasing for him and for the GT dugout, and for the IPL as a whole, because here’s another guy who gets another hundred – they’ve been coming in thick and fast in the last week and a half, hasn’t it?
“He certainly did his part. If we’re asking other guys that should have stepped up, at least Sai Sudarshan did his part.”
Dale Steyn, speaking on the same programme, was impressed.
“I just think he plays orthodox cricket, you know, like he plays good cricket shots; he hits the ball on merit,” Steyn said. “He takes the ball on when he has to, he makes calculated risks and it’s not like he’s running out there recklessly, swinging off his hip to try and score runs. [It was] similar to the way that [Sanju] Samson got his hundred the other night.
“I think it’s calculated, you know, he knows exactly how and where he wants to score his runs and then he put on a show.”
Sai Sudharsan scored his runs at a strike rate of 172.41. That’s solid enough. But he took 12 balls to go from 82 to 100, between the 13th and 15th overs. And was dismissed immediately after. It fell on the other GT batters, the under-fire middle order, to carry forward the good work.
Jason Holder was the best of the lot, with 23 not out off ten balls, but both Jos Buttler and Washington Sundar scored their runs at strike rates in the 150s.
“What I would say is, he has his limitations, right? I wouldn’t put him in the class of, let’s say, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi or Abhishek Sharma. He’s not that guy,” Bishop said. “He does what he does. A hundred off 58 deliveries? Sanju got his 101 off 54 deliveries. So he does a particular job. I’m not classifying him with the Travis Heads and the Abhishek Sharmas.
“What they have to do with him is the other guys around him, the Jos Butlers, the Washington Sundars, have to come in and strike at, maybe, 160, 170 and above alongside Sai Sudharsan, whose game is improving. The team ethos has to be slightly different than maybe one or two of the other line-ups around.”
