Shardul Thakur Alleges Team India Members Of Teasing Him With Ian Botham’s Name

Indian bowling all-rounder Shardul Thakur once again performed exceptionally well for India with the bat in the first innings of the 4th Test against England which took place at Kennington Oval. Notably, Shardul’s performance came as a very big surprise as he smashed an exceptional 57 off just 36 balls after most of the Indian batsmen failed to contribute big runs.

Notably, In the process, Shardul Thakur reached his fifty in just 31 balls, which is an enormous milestone. Now, Shardul Thakur holds the record of fastest Test fifty on English soil. He broke the record of the Ian Botham of who scored his half-century off 32 deliveries.

The 29-year-old revealed that he was not aware that he broke the huge record. Also, Shardul Thakur told that his mates were teasing him by the name of Ian Botham after the 1st Day ended. He stated:

“I was not aware of it (breaking Ian Botham’s record). But it’s always good to score important runs for the team. Yes, these guys are teasing me with his name. But I think it’s good to be compared with the greats of the game,”.

“When Rishabh got out, it was important for me to play such an innings”: Shardul Thakur

Further, Thakur added that it was very important for him to contribute runs after wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant lost his wicket. Shardul Thakur elaborated:

“When Rishabh got out, it was important for me to play such an innings. There are two ways, either you can be patient and bank on the partner to score runs or go and hit it. But at the end of the day, you have to score the runs. I think there is no right way of scoring runs. Runs are runs. Today was a day where I could connect properly. So I kept going for the runs,”

Shardul Thakur told India thought they will put somewhere around 150 or 170 runs on the board. However, they reached 191 and it is a good score. Thakur also revealed that pitch is provided good support to both bowlers and batters. He asserted:

“Definitely, at one stage, we felt 150 or 170 as wickets kept falling at regular intervals. But 190 is a score, in the first innings, is going to count. Runs in the first innings are important and I think we have a chance. I think this pitch is good for both batsmen and bowlers. If you keep pitching in the right areas, something is there in the pitch. But at the same time, the margin of error is less as the batsman can score runs.”