Former England wicketkeeper Alec Stewart has acknowledged young Indian batter Sai Sudharsan's potential for Test cricket, emphasizing his quick learning ability and diverse shot selection as key traits that could help him flourish in the traditional format following Virat Kohli's retirement.

Sudharsan earned his maiden call-up to the Indian Test squad last month. The southpaw, who has already represented India in ODIs and T20Is, will likely receive his debut Test cap in the upcoming tour of England, starting June 20 in Leeds.

In first-class cricket, Sudharsan has 1,957 runs to his name in 29 matches at an average of 39.93, including seven hundreds and five half-centuries with the highest score of 213.

His recent exploits in the IPL 2025 for Gujarat Titans strengthened his credentials, where he bagged the Orange Cap and Emerging Player of the Season award with 759 runs in 15 matches at an average of 54.21.

Sudharsan will be hoping to make use of county cricket experience in the England Test series. The left-hander played county cricket for Surrey over the past couple of seasons.

Before his debut for Surrey, Sudharsan played for the team's second XI at Guildford to acclimatize with English conditions and the Dukes ball.

"Sai came as an unknown, and his experience of the English game was very limited. Vikram Solanki was massive in recommending him to me, and I have so much respect for Vikram. From his first training session, you could see that he was a special talent, and he has not looked back. He loves to bat - whether in the nets or the middle - and just fitted into our set-up perfectly," Stewart said, as quoted by ESPNCricinfo.

Stewart particularly highlighted Sudharsan's technique in handling English conditions. "If you go too hard and get too far out in front of yourself, when the ball seams, you are not in control, then your bat can get outside of your eyeline, whereas he plays it under his eyeline, plays it under his eyes, and plays it late. And even if he does nick it a little bit, like Kane Williamson, for example - you can nick it, but it still falls short of slip and that again is a real attribute of Sai's."

Commenting on Sudharsan's ability to play on English pitches, Stewart stated: "The pitches are quicker here, certainly at The Oval, and to succeed, you have to be able to play off the back foot. You have got to be selective to pull, hook, cut or let go. He gets out of the line of the short ball well but can also play the uppercut over the slips. He has got a full array of shots, and he gets them in the right order."

Sudharsan's dedication to improvement was evident when he carried some Dukes balls back home after his county stint.

"I did not charge him for them and just let him have them. But, no... he had that forward-thinking mindset and trained with those balls, so that when he comes back to us, or hopefully is picked for India on tour, he will have had nice practice against the Dukes cricket ball as well. Some of those will probably be worn out by now because I gave them to him last year, but he is a quick learner and he practises with a purpose. Yes, he likes volume, but he also likes to improve," Stewart remarked.

Stewart advised Sudharsan that he should not think about being the 'next Virat' since he is irreplaceable, but think of being the "best version of Sai Sudharsan".

"Then India has got yet another high-quality cricketer," he concluded.

India's Test squad for England series: Shubman Gill (c), Rishabh Pant (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav