Just a few months ago, Sai Sudharsan was the toast of the IPL. The Tamil Nadu left-hander lit up the 2025 season with elegant strokeplay, bagged the Emerging Player award, and earned a Test debut in England. Hammering 759 runs at 54.21 and 156.17, Sudharsan ended up with the prestigious Orange Cap as well. But now, as India’s domestic season is about to kick off, his name is missing from yet another squad list.
On August 8, the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) announced the two squads for the Buchi Babu Invitational Tournament, the traditional curtain-raiser to the domestic season and Sudharsan was nowhere to be seen. Neither TNCA XI nor TNCA President’s XI will feature the 23-year-old, whose recent maiden Test stint ended with just one half-century in three matches.
Sudharsan misses out on early domestic season
This exclusion comes on the back of an earlier omission from the South Zone squad for the Duleep Trophy, which begins later this month. That squad, led by Tilak Varma, had already raised eyebrows for not including Sudharsan, Washington Sundar, or Prasidh Krishna. All these players were part of India’s squad for the England Tests.
When that list came out, some felt the omissions could be a sign that the trio might be in the frame for the T20 Asia Cup in September. Resting them from first-class duties would keep them fresh for white-ball cricket. But that argument starts to wobble when you look at other cases. Arshdeep Singh, Shubman Gill, and Harshit Rana are all named in the North Zone squad for Duleep Trophy and would still head to the Asia Cup if picked. If they can balance both, surely Sudharsan could have too.
Buchi Babu Tournament TNCA President’s XI:
R. Sai Kishore (Capt.), C. Andre Siddarth C (Vice-capt.), B. Indrajith, Vijay Shankar, M. Shahrukh Khan, R. Vimal Khumar, S. Radhakrishnan, S. Lokeshwar, G. Ajitesh, J. Hemchudeshan, M. Siddharth, R.S. Ambrish, C.V. Achyuth, H. Trilok Nag, P. Saravana Kumar and K. Abhinav
Buchi Babu Tournament TNCA XI:
Pradosh Ranjan Paul (Capt.), Boopathi Vaishna Kumar (Vice-capt.), B. Sachin, Tushar Raheja, Kiran Karthikeyan, S. Mohamed Ali, S. Rithik Easwaran, S.R. Athish, S. Lakshay Jain, D.T. Chandrasekar, P. Vidyuth, R. Sonu Yadav, D. Deepesh, J. Prem Kumar, A. Esakkimuthu and T.D. Lokesh Raj
Sudharsan’s Test returns in England with just one fifty and two low scores showed he still needs time to adjust to red-ball challenges abroad. But for someone who has dominated white-ball cricket at home, more red-ball matches could have been more beneficial than sitting out multiple domestic assignments.
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