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Shardul Thakur not bowling a single over against Punjab Kings (PBKS) baffled many including former Indian head coach Anil Kumble. Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) captain Nitish Rana trusted Harshit Rana and Vaibhav Arora to bowl the final two overs despite having an experienced Thakur in the side. There were speculations that Thakur may have been under-bowled as he is not fully fit ahead of World Test Championship Test (WTC) final. The all-rounders has finally clarified that he simply did not need to bowl in a side full of all-rounders.
"We have a side full of all-rounders with (Andre) Russell, Sunil (Nairne)... We have got maximum of eight bowling options that also includes Nitish (Rana) who also bowls an over or two nowadays," Thakur told PTI.
Thakur was missing from the playing eleven in three matches due to a niggle. Thakur has bowled his full quota of four overs just once in the season. He has bowled a total of 14.5 overs and picked up four wickets in the ongoing season.
While Thakur was not used against PBKS, Harshit and Vaibhav conceded 36 runs in last two overs. With the bat, Thakur’s services were needed off the last ball of run chase on the non-striker end when KKR needed two runs to win.
"It also depends on the situation of the game, if the captain feels the need to bowl me or not bowl me completely depends on him. As far as teams' strategy decision making is concerned, I would not pay attention to it a lot."
"I had a small niggle, so I didn't play a few games, when I came back, I didn't bowl as I was not bowling-fit. But yes, now I'm back to bowling and hopefully whenever I get the ball, I will get the job done," said Thakur.
Thakur has been used more as a batter by KKR. They even promoted him as no.3 batter even though the move backfired. However, he stunned Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) with a 29-ball 68 in the initial phase of the IPL 2023 season.
"I always try to contribute with the bat whenever I get an opportunity. Obviously, I succeed and fail on fewer occasions. But that's completely part and parcel of the game." Asked his favourite batting position, he said: "There is no preferred number, whenever the team asks me to bat I'm ready to do it. In fact, in a game like T20 I'm ready to bat at any position.
"I padded up in a lot of games and they could have sent me at any position. In fact I had padded up to go at No 3 against Punjab Kings. The T20 game is such that you need to be ready at any given position.
"Overall, I'm enjoying my time at KKR. We come up with different ideas and strategies against the team, against individual batters. But it all depends how bowlers are executing their skills in the middle."
KKR have five wins from 11 games and they need to win each of the next three games to have a chance to qualify for IPL 2023 playoffs. KKR will take on Sanju Samson-led Rajasthan Royals (RR) in their next clash at Eden Gardens, Kolkata on May 11.
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