Lucknow Super Giants' (LSG) experienced pacer Shardul Thakur launched a scathing attack on commentators who criticised his bowling. Thakur said that commentators tend to be hard on bowlers even though there have been plenty 200-plus scores. Roped in by LSG as injured Mohsin Khan's replacement, Thakur said that the commentators 'don't see the realy picture' and just comment sitting in the studio.
“I’ve always believed that, as a bowling unit, we’ve bowled well throughout the season. A lot of times in commentary, there’s criticism; they try to be hard on the bowlers. But you have to understand that cricket is moving in a certain direction where 200+ scores are becoming more common," Shardul said while speaking in the post-match press conference.
“Like you said, criticism will always be there, especially from commentators. It’s easy to sit in a studio and comment on someone’s bowling, but they don’t see the real picture out there on the ground," the bowling all-rounder added.
Thakur in contention for purple cap
On April 12, Thakur conceded 34 runs from four overs. He was economical towards the end of the innings dismissing Sherfane Rutherford and Rahul Tewatia off consecutive deliveries in the final over.
The two wickets helped him become a contender for the purple cap as well. He has 11 wickets from six games, just behind Chennai Super Kings' (CSK) Noor Ahmad. His bowling average is 19.81. However, his economy rate is 10.38 runs per over, the highest among top 20 wicket-takers in the season so far.
Thakur credits bowling lineup for team's success
Rishabh Pant-led LSG are third on the points table with four wins from six games. Thakur credited the bowling attack for the team's sucess and how they defended the score against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in batting-friendly conditions.
“Credit to us that we’ve defended scores on two occasions when we batted first. We put up a good score, the pitch became better for batting and even with drastic changes, we managed to defend, one game by 10 runs, one by 4 runs in Kolkata," the 33-year-old said.
Meanwhile, LSG's top-order including Nicholas Pooran, Mitchell Marsh and Aiden Markram has been in good form this season.
LSG's next game is against MS Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on April 14.