The Shardul Thakur Story!! On the face of it, everything seemed to go very smoothly. India won their 4th straight game on the trot, Virat Kohli wowed the crowd en route to a majestic to which also happened to be the 48th of his ODI career. And everything was hunky Dory once again. However, if you do glance deeper, there is a problem hiding in plain sight. And it has the potential to crater in a full-blown crisis for India if it is not addressed in time. And that problem is the role of Shardul Thakur.
The all-rounder found himself a place in the Indian World Cup squad. This was because of the “flexibility” that skipper Rohit Sharma and coach Rahul Dravid crave so much. It is to help the side play with a certain amount of balance. This helps them have enough batting and bowling options.
However, 3 matches in, Shardul has been untested with the bat with India not losing more than 4 wickets in the games they played. Further, he’s proved to be nothing but a damp squib with the ball. This is, despite picking a couple of wickets here and there.
The problem that Shardul finds himself in is that he doesn’t command the respect of the opposition batters. They always seem to want to target him. He is not treated the way someone like a Bumrah, or even an Hardik Pandya commands.
That means that more often than not, the opposition does not exactly take Shardul Thakur to be a serious bowler. This is leading to him becoming the weak link in what is shaping up to be a very very formidable Indian bowling unit.
Shardul Thakur; The Lost Child Of Indian Cricket!!
With no other chinks in the armor, Shardul becomes the one the other batters target. And then he is carted around the park with no regard and with equal disdain. Another problem with Thakur is that he bowls in a manner that is exactly the opposite of how the field plan has done set for him.
All this means that the “Lord” has now been reduced to nothing more than a laughing stock. Even in yesterday’s game, while the rest of the bowling attack had an economy of anywhere between 3.5 to 4 rpo, Shardul was the only one to carted for close to 6.6 an over. His irregularities and unpredictability is the very reason why he only given 2 overs in the game against archrivals Pakistan.
However, despite having so many things going against him, he will still continue to start for India. Hardin Pandya’s injury means that Shardul will almost certainly hold on to his place as the pace-bowling all rounder in the side. That is, at least for the New Zealand game. But we all know what is going to happen to him in that game. India will have to desperately hope and pray that Hardik’s ankle injury is nothing serious and that he can continue playing a key role in India’s push for World Cup glory.
In WWE, there is a term called “lackie”. That is exactly what Lord Shardul Thakur now seems to be becoming within this Indian team. Whether he will be able to make a REAL IMPACT for himself or not in the CWC 2023, remains to be seen. For now, Shardul Thakur is as important as the MASCOT of the Indian cricket team #IYKWIM!!
