It was on this day in 1996 that Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid, two of India’s finest, walked onto the hallowed turf of Lord’s, signalling the beginning of an era.

Ganguly marked it with a century. Dravid, ever the technician, fell five short of one. That day became folklore.

Exactly 14 years later, a certain Virat Kohli was handed his maiden Test cap on June 20, 2011, in Kingston, Jamaica.

Aggression, ambition and flair — Kohli brought it all to India’s whites, setting the stage for a decade of dominance.

Now, another promising left-hander has entered that sacred corridor.

Sai Sudharsan, the rising Tamil Nadu batter, made his Test debut for India on Friday in the series opener against England at Headingley, Leeds.

The 21-year-old became India's 317th Test cricketer, receiving his cap from Cheteshwar Pujara, a symbolic passing of the torch at No. 3, where Sudharsan is expected to slot in.

With Shubman Gill pushed to No. 4 and Rishabh Pant to No. 5, the Indian top order is undergoing a generational shift, and Sudharsan is at the heart of it.

Sudharsan already had three ODI and one T20I cap to his name, but Friday marked his full-circle moment: a complete set across all formats. And what a build-up it has been.

The southpaw lit up the IPL 2025, clinching the Orange Cap with 759 runs at a strike rate of 156.17.

Despite a modest first-class average of 39.93 from 29 matches, including seven centuries, his red-ball skills have steadily matured, aided by two seasons with Surrey in English county cricket.

A product of Tamil Nadu’s domestic system, Sudharsan shot to prominence in the 2021 Tamil Nadu Premier League, ending as the second-highest run-scorer. Since then, he’s ticked all the right boxes: from Ranji to IPL, from white ball to red.

So, what ties Ganguly, Dravid, Kohli, Praveen and now Sudharsan together?

A shared date with destiny, the unofficial induction day of India’s future greats.

And if history is any indicator, Sai Sudharsan may just be on the cusp of something special.