By Sarwar Alam
Nasser Hussain has backed India captain Virat Kohli to emulate the great Sachin Tendulkar and use the experience of playing county cricket to enhance his game and perform well in the upcoming series against England.
Kohli has a brilliant record around the world having scored hundreds away from against the likes of South Africa, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and four centuries in a remarkable last tour to Australia in 2014/15. However, the one blip on his record came on his one and only tour to England in 2014 when Kohli had a torrid time, averaging 13.40 in five Tests with a top score of 39.
To get himself better acclimatised to English conditions this time around, Kohli will play for Surrey in June, including three County Championship matches and at least three One-Day Cup games.
Speaking to Eastern Eye, Hussain said Kohli will benefit from playing county cricket, similar to some of his predecessors as India captain did, such as Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and Tendulkar. In 1992, A 19-year-old Tendulkar became the first foreign player to play for Yorkshire. He scored 1070 runs at an average of 46.52 in 16 first class matches.
"I look at that young lad Sachin Tendulkar that came over when he was 19-years-old playing for Yorkshire. What a phenomenal experience it was for him, for everyone that watched him, for everyone in that Yorkshire dressing room at the time. What a phenomenal experience it is going to be for that Surrey dressing room having Virat Kohli there," said Hussain.
"He (Kohli) has scored runs everywhere he has gone apart from in England where he had a tough time last time around. This time he has come early, to get himself ready, do everything he can to perform. Everyone is just waiting to see how he gets on but it's a good move on his part to play for Surrey."
Hussain, who will be covering the England-India series for Sky Sports, believes Kohli's decision to take time out of his busy schedule shows how much arguably the game's biggest superstar values Test cricket.
"I think fair play to Kohli," said the former England captain. "Test match cricket is becoming a little bit predictable. Everyone is winning at home, no one is winning away from home.
"But here is the busiest cricketer on the planet. He could have taken the easy, soft option. He's had massive long IPL season, has a massive long tour of England ahead of him, he's asked himself 'what shall I do in between? shall I have a one-off game against Afghanistan? or take a break? or shall I go down the hard path and go to England and go and play some county cricket where you're not just given runs where the ball moves around. He decided to take the hard path and all credit to him.
"Surrey will just be counting the gate receipts as soon as Kohli turns up!," he added.
Fellow Sky Sports pundit Isa Guha believes that county cricket and the English game as a whole will benefit from being graced with the presence of a player of Kohli's stature. The 29-year-old is the number one ranked ODI batsman in the world; is second in the Test rankings; averages over 50 in all three formats of the game and has scored 56 international hundreds.
"The benefit of having someone like a Kohli at your club, even if its just for six weeks, its unbelievable," said Guha. "In terms of what you're learning from him. And his experiences from around the world. How he plays his cricket, its just so beneficial for everyone. Yes, it might mean a youngster cant get an opportunity but it actually makes you want to work harder and learn from these overseas players that are coming over."
On England's previous tour to India in 2016, India thumped the visitors 4-0 in the five match Test series with Kohli smashing 655 runs at an average of 109. India also comfortably won the one-day and T20 series.
Both Hussain and Guha felt results like these, as well as England's 4-0 home Test series win over India in 2014, show how dominant teams have become in their conditions and this makes it more important for players to go and play domestic cricket in different countries so they are able to play in all conditions.
Currently, along with Kohli, three other Indian players are playing in England, Cheteshwar Pujara (Yorkshire), Ishant Sharma (Sussex) and Varun Aaron (Leicestershire).
"I hope more come (to England) because it will improve their cricket away from home and it will certainly improve the standard of our domestic game," said Hussain. "I think our cricket is so much richer having these great players, I know someone like Pujara hasn’t got a lot of runs but he's learning all the time.
"When you think about the amount of cricket these top international players, that’s why I admire what Kohli and some of the other Indian players are doing."
Guha added that young English players should do the same and go and play in the sub-continent to become better players of spin on turning pitches.
"If you are a young spinner or a young batsman wanting to play for England and you want to improve your game on subcontinent pitches, then its no-brainer really," she said.
"It's vital to not just go to New Zealand and Australia to play club cricket or state level cricket, but to head out to India and play on those pitches there because you will be playing against some very good players, great spinners. You'll be playing on pitches that turn. Its definitely something that should be encouraged."
Sky Sports Cricket is the exclusive home of England Test and ODI cricket this summer, broadcasting live action against Pakistan, Australia, India and all women’s internationals, starting with England v Pakistan on Thursday 24 May.
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Anurag Bajpayee's Gradiant: The water company tackling a global crisis
In a world increasingly defined by scarcity, one resource is emerging as the most quietly decisive factor in the future of industry, sustainability, and even geopolitics: water. Yet, while the headlines are dominated by energy transition and climate pledges, few companies working behind the scenes on water issues have attracted much public attention. One of them is Gradiant, a Boston-based firm that has, over the past decade, grown into a key player in the underappreciated but critical sector of industrial water treatment.
A Company Born from MIT, and from Urgency
Founded in 2013 by Anurag Bajpayee and Prakash Govindan, two researchers with strong ties to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Gradiant began as a scrappy start-up with a deceptively simple premise: make water work harder. At a time when discussions about climate change were centred almost exclusively on carbon emissions and renewable energy, the trio saw water scarcity looming in the background.
Their insight was that some of the world’s largest industries—semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, food and beverage—were facing acute water-related challenges long before the general public grasped the issue. “Without water, these industries don’t just slow down; they stop,” Bajpayee has often remarked. What Gradiant offered was not just a way to save water, but a way to rethink how it is used, recycled, and valued.
The Engineers Behind the Mission
Anurag Bajpayee, the company’s CEO, whose academic path took him to MIT, where he completed a PhD in Mechanical Engineering focused on water treatment technologies. It was there that he met Govindan, a fellow engineer and now Gradiant's co-founder and COO, whose expertise complemented his in fluid mechanics and process engineering.
Unlike many founders who drift towards the language of venture capital and corporate strategy, Anurag Bajpayee and his team remained grounded in the technical problem: how to make industrial water treatment more efficient, more affordable, and more sustainable. The company still bears the imprint of its founders’ engineering roots. Gradiant is less Silicon Valley startup and more MIT lab, albeit one that has quietly expanded across Asia, the Middle East, Europe and North America.
What Gradiant Actually Does
The company specializes in designing and building bespoke water treatment and reuse systems for industrial clients. Its technologies are aimed at enabling factories and plants to reclaim water that would otherwise be discarded as waste, reducing both the amount of water withdrawn from natural sources and the volume of contaminated water discharged.
At the heart of Gradiant’s portfolio are proprietary technologies such as Counter Flow Reverse Osmosis (CFRO), Carrier Gas Extraction (CGE) and Selective Ion Recovery (SIR), developed from the Gradiant founders’ early research at MIT. Unlike traditional methods like reverse osmosis, these systems are designed to handle highly contaminated or complex wastewater streams, enabling clients to extract clean water even from previously unusable sources.
But Gradiant does not sell “one-size-fits-all” machines. Each project is tailored to the customer’s unique needs. For a semiconductor plant in Singapore, this might mean achieving ultrapure water reuse levels of 98%; for a food and beverage factory in Texas, it might be about safely treating wastewater for discharge while minimising energy consumption. The company's approach—sometimes called "solutioneering" internally—is both its competitive advantage and its raison d'être.
Expansion Without the Usual Hype
Gradiant’s growth has been quietly impressive. From its first commercial project in the oil and gas sector, it has gone on to complete over 500 installations worldwide. The company has raised more than $400 million in funding from a mix of institutional investors and private equity firms, achieving so-called “unicorn” status, with a valuation reportedly over $1 billion.
Unlike many green tech firms, Gradiant’s expansion has not been accompanied by flashy marketing campaigns or grandiose statements. Instead, the company has preferred to build credibility client by client, particularly in Asia, where water-intensive industries and growing environmental pressures make its services indispensable. Anurag Bajpayee, never one to speak in superlatives, frames the company’s expansion as a “response to urgent need” rather than a triumph of business.
Inside Gradiant’s Operations
At its core, Gradiant is still an engineering-first company. Anurag Bajpayee and Govindan, both technically trained and heavily involved in the company’s operations, have instilled a culture where R&D is not just a department but the lifeblood of the business. The firm currently holds more than 250 patents globally, a testament to its ongoing commitment to innovation.
But Gradiant’s success is not just about technology. The company has differentiated itself by offering not just equipment but full-service solutions, including project design, construction, operations, and maintenance. This full-stack approach has been particularly attractive to clients in highly regulated industries, who need water management solutions that work seamlessly and reliably without requiring deep in-house expertise.
Gradiant’s clients include some of the world’s largest manufacturers, including Fortune 500 companies in sectors like microelectronics, pharmaceuticals, and energy. Some, like semiconductor producers, rely on Gradiant to help them meet stringent water reuse targets while maintaining ultra-clean production environments.
Navigating a Changing World
Gradiant operates at the intersection of several converging trends: climate change, regulatory pressure, and industrial decarbonisation. In many regions, water scarcity has become the limiting factor for industrial growth, sometimes more than energy availability or supply chain constraints.
While public attention often focuses on domestic water use, it is industries that consume the lion’s share of freshwater. Gradiant's pitch is straightforward: industries will have to do more with less, and Gradiant offers the tools to make that possible.
Anurag Bajpayee is keenly aware of the paradox that water, despite being vital, is often underpriced and undervalued, especially when compared to energy. “We don’t pay what it’s worth, only what it costs,” he told an audience at a recent conference. Yet, the landscape is shifting. Regulators, investors, and companies themselves are increasingly acknowledging water as both a business risk and a social responsibility.
What's Next for Gradiant?
Looking ahead, Gradiant appears poised to play a central role as industries adapt to water scarcity. Yet, Anurag Bajpayee remains cautious about the hype cycle. "The problem we’re working on isn’t going anywhere," he says. "It’s not a question of innovation alone, but of execution—of making sure these solutions actually reach the places that need them most."
In an era where water risk is increasingly material to business, Gradiant’s quiet, technically grounded approach may prove to be exactly what is needed.
(The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Eastern Eye. The publication does not endorse or take responsibility for the accuracy of any statements made by the author.)