“He has taken some of our Dukes” - Alec Stewart opens up on Sai Sudharsan practicing with Dukes at home

The former England wicketkeeper-batter Alec Stewart has revealed that the Indian top-order batter Sai Sudharsan honed his skills in English conditions when he was the Director of Cricket at Surrey. Notably, Sai represented the Brown Caps in 2023 and 2024.

Stewart asserted that Sudharsan took some of the Dukes’ cricket balls back home. He added that they didn’t charge him for those balls. He went on to train with those balls back home and interestingly, he has been part of the 18-man Indian squad for the England tour.

"When he's gone back home, he's taken some of our Dukes cricket balls back with him. I didn't 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'll have had nice practice against the Dukes cricket ball as well,” Stewart was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo.

Moreover, Stewart also hailed Sudharsan for his exceptional capability of playing the ball late, which can help him in English conditions. Furthermore, he compared his nick a little bit to Kane Williamson’s, which can fall short of slips.

"He plays the ball late, and that's the most important thing here. If you go too hard and get too far out in front of yourself, when the ball seams, you're 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,” he added.

Notably, Sudharsan has played four international games for India - three ODIs and one T20I so far. However, this is the first time he has been called up to the Indian Test squad.

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