Sai Sudharsan is confirmed to feature in India’s XI for the fourth Test in Manchester, but veteran Karun Nair is likely to retain his spot.
Sai Sudharsan’s Unique Pre-Match Routine
India captain Shubman Gill crossed Sai Sudharsan at one point in Old Trafford on Tuesday and asked: “Sai, nets?” When you are 1-2 down in the series and on the eve of the all-important fourth Test, your captain comes and asks whether you’d like to bat in the nets; generally, it’s a no-brainer. You, of course, oblige. But not Sai Sudharsan. He rejected Shubman Gill’s offer with a smile.
Gill wasn’t offended by any means. He, in fact, knew that Sai Sudharsan would never bat on the eve of the match, for he had stopped doing that since this year’s IPL. And Gill, his captain, even in the Gujarat Titans, knew this very well.
According to Cricbuzz, Sai Sudharsan, who loves to bat long hours in the nets in the lead-up to a match, showed tendencies of getting tired while batting for long in the middle during IPL 2024. The GT coaches observed this and told him to take it easy a day before the match, just to preserve energy.
The switch came a year later. Sai Sudharsan would go hard in the nets, train, sprint, and bat for hours two days before the match but would spend the next day relaxing. He was even given an option to stay back at the hotel but the left-hander from Tamil Nadu chose not to. He would travel with the team to the ground, do some light jogging and stretches but avoid batting completely. The method worked wonders as Sai ended up as the leading run-scorer of IPL 2025, and since then, he has carried on with his practice of not batting at all on the eve of a match.
If Sai not batting on Tuesday didn’t confirm his return to the India XI for the fourth Test in Manchester, him inspecting the pitch and doing shadow practice definitely did. This is another routine that Sai follows before a match. In order to get a feel of the centre, he walks up to the pitch, empty-handed and does shadow knocking. He did that twice on Tuesday—once when the pitch was covered and the second time when the sun had peeped and the covers were taken off.
Sai Sudharsan likely to play in the fourth test at Old Trafford. Before leaving the ground, walks to the wicket, observes it for a while and does shadow knocking. #ENGvIND pic.twitter.com/sr1GM3WW0b
— Debasis Sen (@debasissen) July 22, 2025
Sai Sudharsan confirmed to play in Manchester, Karun Nair won’t be dropped
Sai made his debut in the series opener at Headingley, where he was dismissed for a duck in the first innings and scored 30 in the second. However, his performance wasn’t enough to secure a place in the second Test, especially as India altered their team composition.
In Manchester, India are likely to follow the Headingley template due to injuries to Akash Deep and Nitish Kumar Reddy. Head coach Gautam Gambhir prefers having multiple batting and bowling options. Considering India’s long tail, Gambhir is reluctant to push Washington Sundar to No. 7 in Nitish Reddy’s absence. This scenario opens the door for Sai Sudharsan, a specialist batter, to return to the XI.
Meanwhile, young pacer Anushul Kamboj is set to make his debut, stepping in for the injured Akash Deep.