Sai Sudharsan's Test debut proved to be a nightmare as he was dismissed in the first session of the opening match of the Tendulkar-Anderson Trophy on Friday (June 20), as he was dismissed for a four-ball duck by England captain Ben Stokes.

Earlier in the day, Sudharsan became India's 317th Test cricketer after being presented his cap by Cheteshwar Pujara. Quite interestingly, the 23-year-old also walked out to bat at number three, which was a position that Pujara occupied for most of his legendary career that saw him play 103 Test matches for India.

After KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal gave India a solid start with a 91-run partnership, Sudharsan walked out to the middle with a few minutes remaining before the session break. However, the left-hander edged a delivery from Ben Stokes down the leg side as keeper Jamie Smith took a stunning diving catch. This turned out to be the last ball before lunch break.

Sudharsan's duck saw him become the first Indian cricketer to bat at number three on debut and be dismissed without scoring a run. The Tamil Nadu star is the first Indian since Sourav Ganguly in 1996 (against England at Lord's) to bat at number three in the first innings of their career. Rahul was the last player to bat at this position on debut, but that was in India's second innings of the match against Australia at the MCG in 2014. Before Sudharsan, no Indian debutant in either the first or second innings of the match had made.

Before Sudharsan, Rahul had the lowest score at number three on debut (1). Among Indian players batting at that position in the first innings of their career, Navjot Singh Sidhu's 15 against West Indies in Ahmedabad (1983) was the lowest.

Ganguly and Surinder Amarnath scored a century at number three in India's first innings of the match on their debut, while Lala Amarnath and Abbas Ali Baig also achieved the milestone, but during the team's second innings.

Among specialist batters (Batters In Top 6), Sudharsan is the first left-hander from India to be dismissed on a duck on his first innings in Test cricket. Overall, he is only the second left-handed batter with a duck on debut (among batters from 1-6) since Abdul Kardar in 1946 (against England at Lord's). However, that was the second innings of the match. Kardar, who played Test cricket for both India and Pakistan, made 43 runs in the first innings while batting at number eight.Sudharsan is also the first top-six left-handed batter to make a duck for India in Test cricket since Independence.

Across all batting positions, Sudharsan is the first left-hander from India since Parthiv Patel in 2002 (against England in Nottinghamshire) to fail to open his account.

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