Indian all-rounder Shardul Thakur has been in terrific form recently. Thakur claimed five wickets (7/61) in the second Test match against South Africa to restrict the hosts within 229 in the first innings in Johannesburg and because of his heroics with the ball Indian team are hoping to get two back-to-back Test victories in the Rainbow Nation.
Thakur earned an impressive spell of 7/61 and with the bat he made a handy contribution of 28 runs off just 24 deliveries to help his team in posting a healthy total of 266 runs and give India a commendable lead in the second innings as well. Thakur’s innings was consisted of 5 fours and a six.
IPL days
But the journey of this 30-year-old all-rounder has not been smooth always. Commentator Eric Simmons who previously handled the responsibilities of the bowling consultant for the Indian Premier League (IPL) side Chennai Super Kings (CSK), recalled an incident which showed Thakur’s hardworking mentality and a gritty nature.
“I have to tell the story of Shardul’s batting. It’s a lot to do with his character. He is in the same franchise as I am, with CSK,” Simmons said on air while the Test match was going on.
“Two years ago in the IPL final against Mumbai Indians, we needed one of the last ball to tie and two to win. He walked to the wicket, facing Lasith Malinga and he was out last ball of the match LBW. He was devastated to lose that match,” he added.
Sitting in a corner
According to Simmons, Shardul was sitting in a corner and resolved to go out and make sure “that will never happen to me again”.
“He was sitting in a corner for I don’t know how long! That’s his character. Nobody could tell him, nobody could console him… ‘listen it wasn’t your fault’. In fact, he bowled particularly well in that match. The point I am trying to make is what that match did to him. He resolved to go out and make sure ‘that will never happen to me again.’”
“To become the batter that he has… the amount of work he puts in on his batting… even with all the calypso style shots we talk about, there’s a lot of orthodoxy in the way he goes about his batting. It says a lot about the character of the man that he rose from that position,” the 59-year-old commentator explained.
