The Indian Premier League 2023 finally ended on Monday as Chennai Super Kings lifted the trophy. The game between GT and CSK saw many great performances from both sides, and B Sai Sudharsan’s innings of 96 runs was one of them. IPL has seen many great knocks that became memorable, but this final’s knock of 96 runs off 47 balls, which came out of the bat of 21-year-old Sudharsan, would hold a special place.
Sudharshan was injured in the Eliminator
In the eliminator against Mumbai Indians, Sudharshan being on 43 runs off 31 balls, he was forced to retire hurt with one over to go, even though the team already had scored above 200 runs on board. With the Impact Player Rule, teams don’t think twice before forcing a player who is struggling to hit boundaries, even if he has a strike rate of 130. Tom Moody also brought up the topic of retiring Sudharsan, and the same was seen on social media.
He is born to former sportspersons
During the finale, when Shubman Gill was dismissed, Sudharsan arrived at no. 3, and even though Wriddhiman Saha was smoothly making runs, CSK was gripping back the game. It was then that Sudharsan paced up his game and started scoring runs for his team. He was born to parents who were former sportspersons. His father, R. Bharadwaj, was an athlete who competed at the 1993 SAFF Games, while his mother, Usha Bharadwaj, was a state-level volleyball player and is also his trainer.
GT placed their faith in him
At the age of 15, he was part of the Chepauk Super Gillies team in the Tamil Nadu Premier League, and a year later he was part of Sanmar Group’s Alwarpet CC, where he played first division cricket. During the pandemic, Sudharsan used to travel 30 km a day only to train on the outskirts of Chennai, and after the breakout, he scored two centuries in the Ranji Trophy. This IPL season, GT placed their faith in him, and he didn’t let down the team.
Remarkable innings
Sudharshan started his innings facing Matheesha Pathirana, who has been the best bowler for CSK in the last 10 overs. With all the hard work and skills, in the next over, he pulled two boundaries on Theekshana’s deliveries, and after this, he didn’t stop. He scored two boundaries in the 16th over, which was balled by Pathirana, and then in Tushar Deshpande’s over, he picked up 19 runs in just five deliveries. In the last over, he scored two boundaries on the first two balls but got out by LBW, falling four runs short of his century.
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