Surrey has signed Indian A batter Sai Sudharsan for the final three matches of the County Championship Division One of the season 2023.
Sai Sudharsan joins Surrey for County Championship
Sudharsan is an Indian A batter who made his debut in IPL 2022 and plays for Tamil Nadu in the Ranji Trophy. He has been signed by the franchise Surrey for the final phase of the County Championship games for this season and will be playing in the main squad. The left-handed batter had an impressive performance in the ACC Men’s Emerging Cup where he made a century against Pakistan A.
The 21-year-old player has played eight first-class matches scoring 598 runs with an average of 42.71 where he scored two centuries and a half century. He has a top score of 179 runs. He had been a regular player in the IPL for Gujarat Titans and scored a total of 507 runs in 13 matches with an average of 46.09 and a strike rate of 137.06 with a top score of 96 in the last two IPL seasons. He played his last IPL match against Chennai at Narendra Modi Stadium.
Alec Stewart, Director of Cricket at Surrey, said: “Sai has come highly recommended to me by people I hugely respect, including a couple of the greats of the Indian game, who have seen and worked closely with him. Sai will add to the batting options for the final three games of the season, and we look forward to welcoming him to the dressing room.”
“With the busy schedule of international and domestic cricket around the world, I’m pleased to add Sai Sudharsan to our available squad of players.”
Sai Sudharsan is Surrey’s second overseas signing for this period after West Indies pacer Kemar Roach who is back for the last part of the season.
Sudharsan will be playing in three county matches for Surrey’s ties against Warwickshire on home ground on September 3, Northamptonshire on home ground on September 19 and a home away game against Hampshire on September 26.
Surrey will be playing the last part of the season without the original squad, as most of the players have call-ups for the white ball series against NZ. The foreign players Tom Latham and Sean Abbot will be missing their county championship due to international series for New Zealand and Australia respectively.
Surrey is placed in the first position of the Championship Division One points table. Essex stands second in the points table with a 17-point difference.
Essex have signed Umesh Yadav, while Surrey have new contracts with Jose Blake and Jamie Overton.
