In the fifth ball of the 39th over of the South African innings, Dean Elgar’s stubborn resistance was brought to an end.
Elgar had weathered the Jasprit Bumrah inquisition and kept out the persistence of Mohammad Shami.
But he could not resist Shardul Thakur. The ball was back of a length and angling away, and Elgar nicked off. Up until then, Shardul had kept his stock ball, the outswinger, which comes into the left-hand bat, in his back pocket.
This was clever bowling from a player who is often referred to as someone who picks up lucky wickets.
Nineteen balls later, Keegan Petersen, who had batted with great poise and compactness to reach 62, was sucked into driving one that was floated in outside off and moved away late. Shardul had landed on a length where the shot was not on and the catch went straight to second slip.
And 10 balls later, Shardul had his third, a nip-backer that took the inside edge of Rassie van der Dussen’s bat and went through to the keeper off the pad.
While replays suggested there was some doubt over whether the ball had carried cleanly into Rishabh Pant’s gloves, Marais Erasmus, the umpire, gave it out immediately, and the batsman walked off.
In the space of 28 balls Shardul had picked up three top-order wickets conceding just eight runs and in the process, turned the game on its head.
With that one spell, Shardul had done enough, but you knew it was his day when he picked up wickets at will and returned to clean up the tail and end with the stunning figures of 17.5-3-61-7.
Eric Simons, the former bowling coach of the Indian team, worked with Shardul when he was bowling consultant of the Chennai Super Kings, starting in 2018. Simons was only too pleased with what he saw then and now.
“His middle name should be self-confidence. He’s one of the most confident and honest cricketers I’ve ever worked with,” Simons told ET Sport. “He’s honest in terms of his own performance, what he thinks he has done and what he hasn’t done.”
Simons explained what Shardul brought to a bowling line-up. “Players feed off his self-belief. They sense that,” said Simons. “Sometimes, in this quartet, he feels pressure when he’s bowling. If he’s going for a few runs, there’s always (Jasprit) Bumrah or (Mohammed) Shami or (Mohammed) Siraj to throw the ball to. His attitude towards the game and the fact that he’s a good team man does rub off.”
In the 2019 IPL final, Shardul was sent out to bat ahead of the experienced Harbhajan Singh with four needed off two balls. He clipped Malinga away to the leg side for a brace and faced up to the final delivery.
Shardul’s thought process was to just get bat to ball and run hard, and this was endorsed by non-striker Ravindra Jadeja. Unfortunately, Malinga got it just right and pinned Thakur in front.
“I was involved in the final against Mumbai when he got that lbw,” Simons recalled. “He was devastated. An incident like that either takes you into a deep hole or you say I’m never going to let that happen to me again. And look what he’s done. He becomes a decent batsman, gets the fastest fifty in England, and a fifty in Australia. That tough moment in his life drove him to be better, it didn’t drive him into a hole. That sums up who Shardul Thakur is.”
With his performance at the Wanderers, Shardul has put an end to the lazy line of thought that he is a “lucky” bowler or merely a partnership breaker.
(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this column are that of the writer. The facts and opinions expressed here do not reflect the views of www.economictimes.com.)
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