A FOURTH straight win took the Gujarat Titans to the top of the Indian Premier League (IPL) table on Wednesday (9), and a key element in their recent success has been the calculated aggression of opener Sai Sudharsan.
Second only to Lucknow's Nicholas Pooran in runs scored, this 23-year-old man from Tamil Nadu is also among the top five six-hitters this season, but the left-hander is no mindless slogger, as he proved again in the 58-run win over Rajasthan Royals on Wednesday (9).
Sudharsan made 11 off 11 balls before cutting loose in the six powerplay overs, at the end of which he was on 39 off 22.
He went on to make 82, which powered Gujarat to a commanding 217-6 and set up victory at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
"IPL is the kind of tournament where you need the momentum from the start," Sudharsan said after collecting the player of the match award.
"The wicket was seaming a bit, so I took some time but I knew we couldn't take a lot of time.
"I wanted to take the game deep. We wanted to have wickets for the death.
"We have the awareness if we lose early wickets that the set batter has to play long."
"I feel I work a lot on basics that is helping me be a versatile batter."
Sudharsan has 273 runs from five matches, behind Pooran's 288, and Gujarat assistant coach Parthiv Patel said the batter's work ethic was behind his high-scoring displays.
"He works very hard. There have been times when we have to drag him out of the nets," former India stumper Patel said.
"He understands his game and he backs that. That is the reason why you can see consistent performance from him." (Reuters)
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