Encouraged by the confidence shown in him by head coach Gautam Gambhir, Sai Sudharsan scored an assured 81 against Afghanistan on Day 1 of the one-off Test here today. On the eve of the opening day, Gambhir had assured that Sudharsan would be given a fair run at the crucial No. 3 spot.“It gives so much freedom. It gives so much certainty mentally that when the coach, the team, and the captain support you, and want you to do well for the country. They want you to do well for the team and win games. It is such an honour in the first place,” said Sudharsan at the end of the day.Sudharsan put on a 139-run stand with KL Rahul for the second wicket. “The conversation with him (Rahul) was more about understanding what was happening, and how the wicket was behaving. KL bhai gives so much composure. As I bat with him, he gave so much certainty and clarity. It helps as a batter, and he sees the game very well, so he gives a lot of useful cues which we would use in the game,” said Sudharsan.Rahul also helped him to tackle the spin attack. “I think the biggest conversation was around how well we can play spin, how well we can understand the conditions, and score runs out of it rather than just looking to play time. For me, it was more about believing and trusting my abilities and what I can do as a batsman,” said Sudharsan.