Navjot Singh Sidhu backs Sai Sudharsan to find success at no. 3 for India in Test cricket

Former Indian batter Navjot Singh Sidhu has put his weight behind Sai Sudharsan to succeed while batting at one drop in the Test format. Sudharsan has the right technique to find success in the red-ball version and he looks like a solid batter.

The left-hander scored an impressive knock of 61 runs off 151 balls in the first innings of the fourth Test against England at Old Trafford, Manchester on Wednesday. 

Sudharsan had made his Test debut at Leeds, Headingley but returned with scores of 0 and 30 and was dropped thereafter.

Meanwhile, Sudharsan had scored 759 runs in IPL 2025 for Gujarat Titans and had won the Orange Cap.

“Till now there was a search for that number three after Cheteshwar Pujara. Looking at IPL, although it is not a parameter for Test cricket, but looking at a technically correct batter, when you are technically correct, you flow, I say this when I look at Sai Sudharsan, and I am telling it from the start. He will trouble a lot of people and he will trash a lot of people,” Navjot Singh Sidhu said on his YouTube channel. 

The former Indian opener reckons England would miss the services of Shoaib Bashir as the visitors have five left-handers in their batting line-up.

“I have never seen five left-handed batters in the Indian team. If I was the England captain, if I was Ben Stokes, I would look to fill one gap. I would have played an off-spinner for five left-handers. The injury to Shoaib Bashir would prick England now,” he stated. 

Meanwhile, KL Rahul scored another impressive knock of 46 runs but was dismissed right after the lunch break. Sidhu said he is happy to note that Rahul has established himself as an opener.

“The biggest perennial problem that would raise was opening batting. Even with Gavaskar I would see they would always search for an opening pair. Today it feels like there is a factory of openers. Be it T20 or Test cricket, openers are coming in. I am happy that someone like KL Rahul has established himself,” he said. 

Rahul has scored 421 runs in seven innings at an average of 60.14. India ended the day’s play at 264-4.