India all-rounder Shardul Thakur has gone from strength to strength in the past 12 months for his incredible performances at the international level. His passionate, energy-filled attitude, and the ability to make match-turning performances with both bat and ball has earned him the nickname of ‘Lord’ by the fans.
In his 6-Test career, Thakur has slammed three fifties – at Gabba, and two at Oval – showcasing his power-hitting prowess. In the lost Johannesburg Test, too, Thakur played a quick-fire 28-run knock in the second innings to take India’s lead to 239, which, however, South Africa managed to haul down.
Thakur’s former Chennai Super Kings teammate and Protea leg-spinner Imran Tahir has revealed an interesting anecdote about the ‘Lord’. Tahir recalled that on a couple of instances Thakur had been left frustrated and angry at CSK net sessions when he wasn’t given enough batting practice.
“He (Shardul Thakur) takes a lot of pride in his batting. He takes his batting very seriously. I play with him for Chennai and he does a lot of batting practice. On one or two occasions, he got angry when he didn’t get enough batting in the nets,” Tahir said while speaking with Star Sports.
“It shows that he is very keen regarding his batting. He made very vital runs in yesterday’s game. They are very important runs. The way this match will progress, you will see the value of those runs and I believe the positive way in which he played, it is his natural game and he got the reward for that as well,” he added.
Thakur registered historic figures of 7/61 in the first innings in Jo’burg – the best Test innings bowling figures by an Indian in South Africa. India’s captain for the second Test, KL Rahul, lavished praise on the Palghar pacer.
“Shardul has had a great Test match. In the few Test matches he’s played, he’s really created that sort of impact and won us games. Really happy with the way he’s bowled and with the contribution that he had with the bat as well, it was really crucial for us and gave us a change to win the Test,” Rahul said in praise of Thakur after the match.
With the series level at 1-1, both teams travel to Cape Town for the last Test.
