Sudharsan was dismissed by Ben Stokes in the final over of the first session at Headingley.
Sai Sudharsan bagged a four-ball duck in his maiden Test innings for India after edging a delivery down the leg side in the final over of the opening session of the first Test against England at Headingley on Friday (June 20).
The southpaw was tasked with the responsibility of negotiating a tricky passage of play -- the final six minutes of the morning session -- after the visitors lost KL Rahul (42 off 78) at the stroke of lunch.
Batting at No. 3, Sudharsan looked nervous at the crease, clearly eager to open his account. In his short stay, he was involved in a couple of hesitant calls with Yashasvi Jaiswal while attempting to steal quick singles.
As it turned out, Sudharsan lost his wicket on the fourth delivery of the final over before lunch, strangled down leg by England skipper Ben Stokes. The left-hander tried to flick the ball fine in search of a boundary. Instead, he got a faint edge, which was neatly taken by wicketkeeper Jamie Smith.
With this dismissal, the Tamil Nadu lad joined an unwanted list of Indian players dismissed for a duck in their first innings in Test cricket. He is the first Indian since Umesh Yadav in 2011 to suffer that fate.
Veteran India batter Cheteshwar Pujara, who presented the debut Test cap to Sudharsan on Friday morning, urged fans and pundits not to be overly critical of the 23-year-old.
"It was a bit unfortunate-getting caught down the leg side," Pujara told Sony Sports. "When you're playing your first game, you're eager to get off the mark, and that's probably why he went for that ball, even though it was quite wide of leg stump. Normally, he wouldn't go for that. But he was tense-it's natural on debut. Let's give him some time.
"He's a confident cricketer. There's no need to criticise him harshly. These things happen, and I'm sure he'll come back stronger in the second innings. On debut, getting out down the leg side is just one of those things-there's not much a batter can do in that situation."
The tourists went to Lunch with 92/2 on the board. Jaiswal was unbeaten on 41 off 73 balls, and he was joined by skipper Shubman Gill in the second session.