Former Indian batter Subramaniam Badrinath has lavished praise on Sai Sudharsan and reckons the left-hander often goes under the radar despite his consistent performances. Sudharsan had won the Orange Cap in the previous season, scoring 759 runs in 15 matches.

Furthermore, the GT opener is once again currently the leading run-scorer in the ongoing IPL 2026, with 638 runs in 14 games at an average of 49.08 and a strike rate of 157.92.

Badrinath pointed out that Sudharsan has a similar strike rate as Virat Kohli, who is striking at 163.82 in the ongoing season.

Badrinath said on his YouTube Channel, “He is batting at almost the same strike rate as Virat Kohli. He is very underrated and for any other country, Sai Sudarshan would be their T20 opener. Unfortunately, he is with India, where it’s crowded with unbelievable openers. Because there is an extraordinary opener like Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Sai doesn’t get talked about as much with respect to the Indian T20 lineup.”

“Sai Sudharsan perfectly fits the bill of all that you see or hear isn’t true and only a detailed analysis can do justice to his batting. He is striking at almost 160 but he nevers look like playing at that strike rate. It’s because he is more of a four hitter so he doesn’t pass the eye test like an Abhishek Sharma or Priyansh Arya. But he will pass the real test.”

Badrinath backed RCB as favorites in the first qualifier against GT as they have more experience in their team.

“I am going with RCB, purely because of experience. Experience and composure under pressure is crucial in big matches. Also, the presence of match-winners in the middle order could help RCB upstage GT,” said Badrinath (via the aforementioned source).

RCB will take on GT at Dharamshala on Tuesday.