Surrey rope in the services of Sai Kishore for a short County Cricket stint that will see him play two matches.
Surrey sign Sai Kishore for two-game County Championship stint.
R Sai Kishore, a left-arm fingerspinner, has committed to play for Surrey in the County Championship’s Division One. By the end of July, 28-year-old Sai Kishore will be available for two first-class matches.
Sai Kishore’s first match is scheduled for Scarborough, where he may face Ruturaj Gaikwad, a former teammate of his from the Chennai Super Kings who has joined Yorkshire. From July 29 to August 1, Sai Kishore will play Durham at Chester-le-Street to round up his brief stay.
“I’m really excited to be joining Surrey for the next two County Championship matches,” Sai Kishore said in a statement. “Surrey are one of the most prestigious clubs in the world and I have heard great things about the set-up from lots of different people in the game.”
Alec Stewart, Surrey’s high-performance advisor, welcomed Sai Kishore into the team. “I’m delighted to bring the highly rated Sai Kishore into our squad for the next two Kookaburra games,” Stewart said. “All the reports I have received from people I respect in the Indian game have spoken highly of him. His four-day record for Tamil Nadu is very good and he brings leadership experience to the group.”
Sai Kishore will be playing county cricket for the first time. After playing T20 cricket nonstop since March, he became the second-highest wicket-taker among spinners in the 2025 Indian Premier League with 19 strikes in 15 games at an economy rate of 9.24 for the Gujarat Titans. He guided his team to their first-ever Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) T20 championship on Sunday.
Former New Zealand captain and Sunrisers Hyderabad head coach Daniel Vettori gave a laudatory evaluation on Sai Kishore’s abilities throughout the IPL.
“Sai Kishore has been the pick [of the spinners],” Vettori said at a press conference. “He’s been fantastic, and I think he was a guy we looked very closely at in the auction and wanted him in the team. He’s very brave, his ability to turn the ball and change his pace and angle from over and around the wicket.
“I think it sort of sets up a template for other spinners to see how you can actually compete and succeed, and he’s done it on good batting wickets as well. I know he came to Hyderabad and bowled exceptionally well. I think he’s been incredibly impressive.”