Sudharsan had a mixed series with scores of 7, 87 and 39 in three outings against West Indies.
Former BCCI chief selector Kris Srikkanth wasn’t impressed with Tamil Nadu batter Sai Sudharsan’s exploits in the recently held Test series against the West Indies at home.
While India secured a comfortable 2-0 series victory, the 24-year-old Sudharsan had a mixed series with scores of 7, 87 and 39 in three outings.
Sudharsan failed to convert his starts into a century during the second Test in Delhi, prompting Srikkanth to claim that the southpaw should not be a sure-shot pick at No. 3 in the Test side over the course of the next few series.
“I still feel we should wait for some time. He played well, especially off the backfoot, but I wouldn’t say he should be a certainty over the next two to three series so easily. But he should not have let go of such an easy century. There is a big difference between 87, why even 99, to 100,” Srikkanth said on his YouTube channel.
“Once you score that hundred, it’s a different level. 90s, 50s and 70s are of no use compared to a 100. Irrespective of how much you fail, everyone will only ask for the number of hundreds. That’s where Sai Sudharsan missed out,” he added.
Srikkanth also showered rich praise on India Test opener Yashasvi Jaiswal, hailing him as an all-format player. Despite his impressive numbers in Test cricket, Jaiswal has only played one ODI to date and was ignored for India’s Asia Cup T20I assignment last month. Averaging over 36, the left-hander also boasts an incredible 164-plus strike rate in the shortest format of the game.
“100% he (Jaiswal) is an all-three-format player, no two ways about it. T20 his record is brilliant, in ODIs he will do very well but he has not been given ample chances. His game is natural and he plays his natural game without modifying. He is even charging medium pacers and smashing them at times,” Srikkanth stated.
Jaiswal will be in reckoning to revive his ODI career as he has travelled with the Indian team to Australia for the three-match series, starting October 19 in Perth.