Shardul Thakur v Pat Cummins. And may I say, it was all Cummins in the first 20 minutes. Shardul wasn’t able to get bat on ball, and was hit multiple times on the wrist and the forearm. He was in serious pain, and few felt he could survive. But then, this is Shardul. All guts and khadoos. He stayed on and braved the pain to make a fifty that has kept India afloat in this contest.
A glance at Shardul, and one can’t help but feel that he is the antithesis of what a fast bowler usually looks like. He is barely 5 feet, 8 inches, and his body shape is very different from the mean, lithe physiques that some of his contemporaries possess. There aren’t any six or eight-packs around that torso of his, but once the red cherry lands on the surface after a smooth load-up, the batsmen have had to hurry their shots. A sturdy village boy toughened up by Mumbai, the Maximum City.
Indian cricket, purely in terms of talent, is like a minefield. There is a virtual explosion of talent, and at the highest level, there are limited opportunities to make a mark because there is a serpentine queue waiting to jump at the first opportunity.
When Shardul made his debut for India in the white-ball format in Colombo in 2017, something completely unsavoury happened in which the young man had no role to play. Shardul during that first series was handed the No. 10 Jersey and social media, which is now a function of time and age, was quick to pounce on him for having the audacity to even think of wearing Sachin Tendulkar’s jersey. The trolls had a field day, and Shardul then wore Jersey No. 54, with the BCCI rightly retiring the jersey. They should have done so in the first place, and saved the youngster from the ordeal that he faced.
And then, when he got an opportunity to make his Test debut against West Indies in 2018, something equally unfortunate happened. Only 10 balls into his spell on debut, he was down clutching his groin. Something didn’t seem right. It was a right adductor tendon injury. “Before the injury, I had played for five to six years continuously and never got injured,” Shardul told me after returning from Australia in 2021. “The first major injury I had was on my Test debut. But then, I can’t just sit back and crib thinking, ‘Oh God, what should I do now?’ I had to do extensive rehabilitation, and go through the process again. I spoke to seniors, coaches, and they told me this can happen in anyone’s career. You just get on with your rehabilitation.”
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Having moved miles away from these unfortunate incidents, Shardul is now one of India’s most-loved cricketers. Fans fondly call him Lord. And may we say, he deserves every bit of the newfound fame. Interestingly, however, as his coach Dinesh Lad says, he hasn’t changed. “He can afford to buy a house in Mumbai, but he hasn’t,” said Lad. “Even when he had played for India or IPL, initially, he didn’t buy a car. It was our car that would pick him up from the airport. It’s only some time back that he got a good car for himself. He still has those middle-class values, and doesn’t waste money. He still stays with his uncle’s family at Vile Parle.”
In bowling, India has Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj to bank on. Hopefully, Jasprit Bumrah will be back at some point. But with Shami reaching the final zone of his career, Shardul with his all-round ability will certainly be a name the Indian team will always consider in the future. His ability to swing the ball will be handy in England, something the management banked on here at The Oval. Someone like Thakur, who has multiple skill-sets, is often an asset for any captain. If one is practical, he still has some distance to go before he can replace a Shami or Siraj on pure bowling skills, but his batting and those flowing cover drives make him a player who would always be on the periphery of national teams.
He is a man, if fit, who can’t be kept away from the national team. He has the work ethic and could be a captain’s go-to bowler, ready to toil manfully in adverse conditions. And then, give him a bat and June 9, 2023, The Oval, can happen again and again – whether that’s in Brisbane, Birmingham or Bengaluru.
Shardul, all hard work, is here to stay.
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