Sai Sudharsan's 96 in IPL final draws praise from Tendulkar

Sai Sudharsan produced a special effort in the IPL 2023 final between Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Gujarat Titans (GT), helping his side pile an enormous 214/4 in 20 overs after being invited to bat first.

The Gujarat batter, who made just eight appearances during the course of the tournament, saved the best for the finals as he played a spectacular 96 off 47 deliveries before getting out in the final over bowled by Matheesha Pathirana.

Sudharsan's knock featured eight fours and six maximums. While he targeted almost every CSK bowler, but his carnage against Tushar Deshpande in the 17th over was most talked on social media.

After being reintroduced in the attack, Sudharsan welcomed Deshpande with a maximum in the 17th over and followed it with a hattrick of fours. Sudharsan's incredible knock drew praises from the cricketing fraternity, which included batting legend Sachin Tendulkar.

Sharing a clip of Sudharsan's knock, Tendulkar tweeted: "Tonight, Sai was a treat to the eye!"

Apart from Tendulkar, his former opening partner Virender Sehwag too was left mesmerised, and called the knock "astonishing".

Meanwhile, R Ashwin, who is in England preparing for the upcoming World Test Championship (WTC), praised Gujarat Titans for acquiring his services at his base price, which was 20 lakhs.

Sudharsan's 96-run knock now stands as the third highest individual score in an IPL final. Only Shane Watson, and Wriddhiman Saha have scored more, both being a 100-plus score.

If we look at CSK's attack, Deshpande finished as the most expensive bowler as he conceded 56 runs in his four overs. Matheesha Pathirana claimed two wickets but he too leaked runs at an economy of 11 runs per over, accounting for 44 runs in his four overs.