Titans captain Hardik Pandya predicted a bright future for the 21-year-old Sudharsan
Gujarat Titans batter Sai Sudharsan plays a shot. — PTI
David Miller and Sai Sudharsan's unbeaten 56-run partnership guided Gujarat Titans to a six-wicket victory over Delhi Capitals in the Indian Premier League at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi on Tuesday.
Sudharsan top-scored for Gujarat Titans with an unbeaten 62 off 48 while Miller made a quickfire 31 not out off 16 as the defending champion chased down the target of 163 with 11 balls to spare.
For Delhi Capitals Anrich Nortje bagged two and Khaleel Ahmed and Mitchell Marsh scalped one wicket each.
Sudharsan was delighted with his effort.
"First time here. I was thinking about what has to be done right, was not under pressure. My job was to take the game deep. It was about weathering the storm early on, because it was seaming early on," Sudharsan, the 21-year-old batsman from Tamil Nadu, said after his match-winning knock.
Titans captain Hardik Pandya predicted a bright future for Sudharsan.
"He has been batting beautifully. You can see the fruit of his hard work. In two years he will do something big in franchise cricket and hopefully for India," Pandya said after the match.
Earlier, useful contributions from David Warner (37), Axar Patel (36) and Sarfaraz Khan(30) helped the Capitals make 162 for eight in 20 overs.
But Warner's team needed al least 20 more runs against the talented Gujarat team.
"It was little funny at the start. We didn't know what was happening but something was happening. But we gave away 15-20 runs more in the powerplay," Pandya said of the helpful conditions for the seam bowlers at the start of the match.
Delhi captain Warner admitted that it was a challenge to face the bowling attack led by Mohammed Shami (3/41) who struck two early blows.
"It swung more than I anticipated. Losing wickets in the powerplay can be struggle. They showed how to adapt to the situation and it is a learning for us," Warner said.
"We have got six more games here and anticipate the swing upfront. They bowled extremely well. We were in the game but Sai batted extremely well and David Miller took it away."
Brief scores
Delhi Capitals 162/8 (David Warner 37, Axar Patel 36; Rashid Khan 3-31)
Gujarat Titans 163/4 (Sai Sudharsan 62*, David Miller 31*; Anrich Nortje 2-39)