India has named an 18-player roster for the forthcoming five-match Test series against England, which includes several young and skilled players. Sai Sudharsan is one such emerging talent, having impressed in domestic and franchise events. The left-handed hitter recently spoke with Undia stalwart Virat Kohli.
Notably, India will be without Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma in England, as both have announced their retirement from the game’s longest format. Sudharsan stated that his most recent conversation with Kohli occurred following the IPL 2025 final at Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium. Sudharsan congratulated the great hitter on RCB’s historic IPL title victory over Punjab Kings by six runs in a dramatic final. The 23-year-old went on to say that most of his chats with Kohli are about how he handles himself and scores runs under duress.
“I merely congratulated him after the final; it was a memorable occasion for him. But I’ve had such chats in prior years. What I’ve always appreciated about him is his mindset—his obsession with the sport. I spoke with him about those and how he dealt with situations where he wasn’t getting many runs and found it challenging. I believe that as a cricketer, those are the times when you learn the most, thus I had chats about it,” Sudharsan told the Times of India.
Sai Sudharsan opens up on his learnings from Shubman Gill
Meanwhile, the Indian Test team will now be led by Shubman Gill, who will be making his debut as India’s red-ball skipper with the England tour. Sudharsan has played a couple of IPL seasons under Gill’s leadership at the Gujarat Titans (GT). Both Sudharsan and Gill were amongst the runs in the IPL, and the yougnster revealed his learning from the Punjab batter.
“The biggest thing is the mindset, self-belief, the trust that he has in his ability. I’ve seen how he manages himself when he’s not getting runs — that understanding of the game and life to maintain consistency. Then there are technical discussions as well, which are also helpful,” the IPL 2025 orange cap winner stated.
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