Johannesburg, Dec 18 (IANS): With his exploits in IPL 2023 and competitions like the Emerging Men’s Asia Cup, it was a matter of time before B. Sai Sudharsan would enter the stage of international cricket and shine. It did happen on Sunday (December 17) when the left-handed batter made his ODI debut against South Africa and ended up unbeaten on 55.

“It felt amazing because as a young kid, everybody wants to play for the country, plus contribute and win trophies for the country. So, I was very happy and it was a very beautiful feeling.”

“One culture I have loved is giving everyone caps, which I have loved seeing from Tamil Nadu days. I was a little emotional during the national anthem. It’s a great feeling and I just enjoyed it,” said Sai Sudharsan in a video posted on bcci.tv.

In the paltry chase of 117, Sai Sudharsan got off the mark in international cricket with a crisply timed cover drive for four, which had class written all over it. He went on to impress with a good-looking steer past point and timing a drive sweetly through extra cover for two more boundaries.

Sudarshan continued to impress with the way he used his feet against the spinners, pulling whenever given a chance and timing his drives effortlessly to score 55 not out off 41 balls while sharing an 88-run partnership with Shreyas Iyer, who made 52.

“We just reacted well to the situation because the wicket was a bit tricky, it was not so easy to bat. But we had a very good partnership and just communicated over what’s happening with the wicket and it went great,” he added.

What also helped Sai Sudharsan was the experience of playing the four-day red-ball match for India ‘A’ against South Africa ‘A’ before joining the ODI team. “I just tried to collect as much awareness as possible about how the conditions will be in South Africa.”

“I had played an India ‘A’ game before coming here, so it helped me to adjust to the conditions. I just reacted well to the ball, but I had a small feeling that it would be great if I started my first ball with a boundary.”

Sai Sudharsan comes from a Chennai-based family which has sporting connections. His father R. Bharadwaj represented India in the 100m sprinting event at the 1993 SAF Games in Dhaka.

His mother Usha Bharadwaj was a volleyball player in her youth days and is now his strength and conditioning trainer. Usha is also known to train other sportspersons like Dinesh Karthik, Dipika Pallikal, Joshna Chinappa and Abhinav Mukund among others.

“Actually, we are not allowed to tell. But I just gave them hints that it could, and they were very happy. When they saw my name in the team a few weeks back, they were really happy about it. I hope they will be happy now as well,” he concluded.