In Sai Sudharsan, we may have got our Mr. IPL or perhaps the most consistent batter in the Indian Premier League (IPL) history. The left-hander has built a mind-boggling habit of piling up runs in the toughest cricket league. Match after match, Sudharsan continues to apply misery to opposition bowlers. Recently, against the Rajasthan Royals (RR), the Gujarat Titans (GT) opener hammered another fifty, his sixth in his last nine IPL games.
Against RR, Sudharsan lost his opening partner Shubman Gill early, who faced some music off Jofra Archer and got dismissed for the third time. But then, Sudharsan weathered the early Jofra storm before playing some high-percentage shots. While Jos Buttler wasn’t at his best, Sudharsan took the onus of smashing boundaries in the powerplay. In the 10th over, the southpaw reached his third fifty of the season in 32 balls.
Mr. Consistent of IPL? Sai Sudharsan?
While he was signed for Rs 30 lac and made his IPL debut in 2022, he played just five games that season. If we talk about since 2023, Sudharsan has played 25 innings and has 1162 runs at an incredible average of above 150. His strike rate of 143.5 is also decent. This tally is more than what the likes of Yashasvi Jaiswal, Suryakumar Yadav, Sanju Samson, KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer have scored in the same period.
At the Narendra Modi Stadium, the 23-year-old has now scored five consecutive 50+ scores. With this, he’s become just second batter in IPL history to hammer five successive fifties at a particular ground after AB de Villiers, who achieved the same feat at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium.
On Wednesday, he was the pillar on which GT’s innings rode. While he had his fair share of luck, Sudharsan made 82 off 53 balls, a strike rate of 154.72.
Sai Sudharsan IPL stats
| Tournament | Inns | Runs | HS | Ave | SR | 100s | 50s | 4s | 6s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall (GT) | 30 | 1305 | 103 | 50.19 | 142.00 | 1 | 9 | 119 | 43 |
| IPL 2025 (GT) | 5 | 271 | 80* | 67.75 | 153.97 | 0 | 3 | 24 | 12 |
| IPL 2024 (GT) | 12 | 527 | 103 | 47.90 | 141.28 | 1 | 2 | 48 | 16 |
| IPL 2023 (GT) | 8 | 362 | 96 | 51.71 | 141.40 | 0 | 3 | 33 | 12 |
| IPL 2022 (GT) | 5 | 145 | 65* | 36.25 | 127.19 | 0 | 1 | 14 | 3 |
Sai Sudharsan’s last 9 IPL innings
| Runs | SR | Opp | Ground | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 82* | 154.54 | v RR | Ahmedabad | 9 Apr 2025 |
| 5 | 55.55 | v SRH | Hyderabad | 6 Apr 2025 |
| 49 | 136.11 | v RCB | Bengaluru | 2 Apr 2025 |
| 63 | 153.65 | v MI | Ahmedabad | 29 Mar 2025 |
| 74 | 180.48 | v PBKS | Ahmedabad | 25 Mar 2025 |
| 103 | 201.96 | v CSK | Ahmedabad | 10 May 2024 |
| 6 | 42.85 | v RCB | Bengaluru | 4 May 2024 |
| 84* | 171.42 | v RCB | Ahmedabad | 28 Apr 2024 |
| 65 | 166.66 | v DC | Delhi | 24 Apr 2024 |
