Shardul Thakur reveals how Virat Kohli helped him claim Hashim Amla’s scalp
Shardul Thakur has disclosed the fact that it was Virat Kohli, whose suggestion of bowling short, had helped him get Hashim Amla’s wicket. While stating that he was learning variations from Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Thakur also explained his thought process while bowling in different formats of the game.
Playing in just the third ODI match of his career, Shardul Thakur was the stand out bowler for India in the final ODI of the series against South Africa. While India had already secured the series, South Africa had nothing but pride to play for, but Thakur ensured that India did not lose any of the bragging rights. Replacing Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who failed to make any sorts of impact in the ODI series, opened the bowling alongside Jasprit Bumrah and ended up with impressive figures of 4/52. But the Indian pacer credited Virat Kohli for Hashim Amla’s wicket when asked about if he had set somebody up in the match.
“It was of Hashim Amla in the sixth ODI. He’d let go off 4-5 balls in one over of mine and then swung the last ball for four. Virat (Kohli) was at mid-off and told me if I was confident to slip in a bouncer after just two length deliveries in my next over,” Thakur recalled while talking to The Indian Express.Â
“He’s gotten out to the short-ball before too. I tried it once and he tucked it for a single, but I did it again in the next over and I had him caught by the keeper down the leg side. It was a perfect setup.”
As a pacer in India, the 26-year-old has an impressive average of 28.27 in first-class cricket and 27.63 in List A cricket. While he plays all formats of the game for Mumbai and India A, Thakur revealed how he changes his mindset while bowling in the shorter or the longer format.
“My strength is that I can swing the new ball. I am not focused on bowling at over 140 kph. I’m happy if I can bowl at 137-138 kph and have control over my line and length. It’s also about not going all out always. I get the ball to leave the right-hander. So in the longer format, I just prefer keeping the ball out there and play on his patience,” Thakur said.
“In one-dayers, I start with that same mindset, occasionally holding the ball cross-seam. In the death, it’s all about having skills and executing them. T20 cricket is different, where the situation of the match changes nearly every two balls. You have to be flexible and keep your ego aside. You are making and changing plans out there. I’ve learnt to bowl the knuckleball over the last one year. I’ve also tried learning the leg-cutter from Bhuvi.”
Thakur has only played “two” seasons in the Indian Premier League. His first stint came at the Kings XI Punjab where he played just one game in 2015. In the next season, he criticized his franchise as he was let go midway through the season, three games to be exact. However, despite being retained, he was released to the Rising Pune Supergiant where he showed off his true skills. The pacer also highlighted how playing in the IPL was a huge boost to any player’s career as he is seen playing by a huge number of people.
“When I was sent back by Kings XI Punjab midway, it didn’t sit well with me. When they said they wanted to release me to Pune, it took me 15 minutes to say ok. It was for the best,” Thakur recalled.
“I’ve realised that you can achieve a lot in the Ranji Trophy and nobody watches you, but even one good performance in the IPL and everyone’s talking about you. I remember meeting Pravin Amre sir during that IPL I sat out and he told me that whenever my chance will come I had to be ready. So that’s what I did. I worked really hard on perfecting my yorker, slower ones and also kept visualizing various scenarios from the bench.”