TimesofIndia.com in Mullanpur: On the eve of the one-off Test against Afghanistan, head coach Gautam Gambhir had said that Sai Sudharsan would get a “longer rope” and that the management had complete faith in him to succeed at No. 3. Sudharsan, who received two reprieves but missed out on what would have been his maiden Test hundred, scored a gritty 81.India’s No. 3 credited head coach Gautam Gambhir and captain Shubman Gill for their unconditional support.“I mean, it gives so much freedom,” Sai told reporters when asked about the vote of confidence from the management.“It gives so much certainty mentally when the coach, the team and the captain support you, back you and want you to do well for the team and win games. So it is such an honour in the first place. And obviously, it gives a lot of freedom for you to express yourself and do what you can do best rather than thinking about scoring runs or wondering whether you will play the next game. Those kinds of thoughts never arise because you get great freedom from the team,” he added.Sai Sudharsan was graceful and edgy in equal measure during an attractive innings. He showcased his strengths, with most of his 13 boundaries coming through the mid-wicket region. Sudharsan also shared a 139-run partnership for the second wicket with KL Rahul.The 24-year-old also spoke about his partnership with the veteran opener.“The conversation was more about understanding what was happening, understanding how the wicket was behaving and who was bowling what. We were not thinking about taking a bigger role and batting deep. It was more about understanding the conditions. KL gives so much composure when I bat with him, and he gives a lot of certainty. It really helps as a batter. He reads the game very well and shares a lot of useful insights that we can use during the innings,” he said.The left-hander, who struggled against spin during the South Africa series, also opened up about the challenge and the mental and technical adjustments he had to make in preparation for this game, especially after playing IPL cricket for two and a half months.“Mentally and tactically, for me, it was more about believing in and trusting my abilities as a batter. Tactically, we had a lot of conversations about what we could do to disturb the bowlers and what options we could take to keep the scoreboard moving, so that the pressure remained on them rather than just soaking it up and batting for time,” he said.
